Chocobo Day Vacation
by Deritine
Summary: time-travel/loop, plotty crack. The Planet has discovered a brilliant way to live forever despite the numerous attempts to destroy it. Cloud isn't impressed. Sometimes you just have to dress in drag and speak in quotations to be the Hero.
1. The End

OoOOo

Chocobo Day Vacation

_There is an old legend in the land of Midgar of a chocobo racer who was the best, the most athletic, the most in tune handler of chocobos. One day he was so concentrated on his race that he did not notice when he had won. He and his black chocobo raced around and around the track, getting faster and faster and surpassing themselves every lap. Eventually the chocobo and rider decided to stop and found that the world around them had moved on. It had been hundreds of years since they started the race. The rider bemoaned the loss of his friends and family that he had left behind, before he got onto his mount again. They ran together until the end of time._

_Like our hero, they were outside of time. Unlike our hero, the racers never found a way back. Instead, our hero lost his ability to go forward. He lost his way through time. And the Planet followed._

OoOOOO

Diclaimer: I do not own (or even beaten) any Final Fantasy games. I have seen them beaten, heard all the plot-lines and seen most of the cut scenes thanks to fanatic friends. But, lo, I am not much of a RPG player myself. Because of this story I am currently playing through FFVII, which you can apparently buy for download on your PS3. Good deal, yo! No profit is made on this story. In fact, it could be argued that I spent $10.61 already on research for actually writing it (why is there tax on a download? They can't possibly know what state I am in. Or if I'm even a US resident! Well, maybe that. Is it based on the state their company is in? (Teeheehee, could totally make a joke on that)). FFVII belongs to someone or other, probably Sony. Not me!

OoOOo

"I think what Seph needs is a little one-on-one time." Zach mused. "Someone who is there just for him. More than just us. We're his friends."

"Uh..." Cloud gave him a sidelong look. What had they been trying to do this whole time?

"I know, Spikey! But it's not working. He won't take a second glance at any of the women we keep throwing at him, even if they are drop dead gorgeous." Zach pouted.

"Probably because they are pale and sweating at the sight of him." Cloud scoffed. "They probably would piss themselves if he did show interest."

"Exactly! We need someone who isn't intimidated by him."

"Well, then that leaves two decaying deserters and the two of us, Zach." Cloud shook his head. "And exactly no females." Except maybe Aeris... that was a thought, but meeting an _actual_ Cetra tended to make Sephiroth lose it even faster than thinking _he_ was a Cetra. If he could abduct one of his old AVALANCE teammates and level them up, that might work... though the idea of raising someone to be someone's mate was pretty sketchy. If only Yuufie was older. That could be a classic political mairrage right there. And Heavens knew that that girl wasn't afraid of anything. Even when she really, really should be. But she was barely born at this point. Sephiroth would be irrevocably insane before she was even pubescent.

Zach started to look at Cloud with a gleam in his eye that was a bit too speculative. The blond eyed him warily.

"Oh, Hel no!" Cloud snapped, jumping to his feet.

"Just think of it, Spikey! It can't be me- I'm too straight..."

"I'm not gay!" Cloud protested. "And..." He continued desperately, "Sephiroth isn't either." He thought about what he had just said. "Probably." He added, with much less conviction. They guy did prefer tight, tight leather, working out and making his hair look pretty... and that sword was definitely longer than it needed to be. Longer, really, than was practical.

Zach kept going over the protestations of his friend. "And besides, my shoulders are way too broad. I would never fit in a dress. You, on the other hand- you could make it look _good_."

Cloud didn't really feel like he could argue that point as he had, once upon a future, looked extremely good in a dress and been, essentially, a highly paid hooker. He shuddered. Wait... but why was he going to be wearing a dress? Were they assuming that Sephiroth was gay or not?

"And it can't be Angeal for the same reason as me. And Genesis is really sick and sort of crazy to boot. No way he could stop spouting poetry long enough to be a convincing woman. You're our only hope." Zach looked up at Cloud with his most impressive puppy dog face. Cloud, despite his intense desire to never be caught dead in a dress again- who knows how far he would go this time? Or if there would be friends to come bust in and save him from making out with some fat old dude? His brain flash-backed in a way he really thought he had gotten over and he grunted a bit before clutching his head.

Despite his deep-seated fear of crossdressing, the puppy face was starting to wear him down. Cloud blamed the flash-back-igrain. But thinking a bit more, it was Sephiroth, not some obese crime boss. Would it be so bad to make out with someone as gorgeous as the General? Hel, he had long hair like a woman and everything. Zach's next comment broke through his musings. "And let's be honest. If there is one guy you would go gay for, who else but Sephiroth?"

"If you think so, then why don't you sleep with him?" Cloud groused. "And if I'm 'going gay' why the Hel do I have to wear a damn dress!"

Zach dramatically put his hand on his chest, sighing forlornly. "Appearances, Cloud! You can't be sleeping with young male Regulars when you're the General of the Army." Cloud didn't see why not. It wasn't like the rumors about Angeal and Zack before he got into SOLDIER had been met with Turks investigating. Well, that anyone knew about. Possibly it had happened. "Our dear Seph needs someone who can be emotionally involved with him. You know, not just use him like everyone else."

"I don't see why that means that I should do it." Cloud had to concede the point, but was confused about the approach. How would getting him to do... things with the General mean anything emotionally stable and healthy? He killed the man almost as much as he died and looped back in time. This plan would certainly precipitate the psychotic break. If one more person used Sephiroth, especially in the way Cloud was sort of sure he couldn't help based on what Zack was proposing... let's just say it would be an interesting end of the world.

Cloud turned to Zack desperately. "You don't just want me to give the guy a little relief, you want me to date him? You do realize that I don't really want to have anything to do with him?" The General still left him extremely confused when he was not trying to kill him. Since Cloud knew that he _would._ Cloud had tried to get Sephiroth to not destroy the world... but someone else, usually even worse, would take his place (usually after grafting Sephiroth onto themselves somehow). Or someone would just resurrect Sephiroth. Or try to use the Planet to destroy itself for kicks. Hel, the Deepground people hadn't even had the excuse of being driven mad by a troubled childhood and being possessed by and alien.

"Well, when you put it that way... it does sound a little bad." Zach mused.

"Thank you." Cloud slumped in the chair and cracked open another beer.

"We'll just have to get him drunk." Zach said firmly. Cloud spewed beer all over himself and started cursing, but the other man ignored him. "Alcohol won't work of course. But he's pretty loopy after the sessions with Hojo where he gets all the mako. You should jump him when he's out of it." Zach smiled devilishly.

"Absolutely not." Cloud said flatly.

OOOOooOoo

Cloud sat with his arms crossed over the generous padding in his bra. He was very annoyed with Zach at the moment. Persistent puppy eyes had worn away at his resolve for the past few weeks. He had finally caved to the pressure a few days ago. Of course the 'perfect opportunity' had happened right after Cloud had given in. He was pretty sure that Zach had planned it that way. If he could give Zach enough credit for being that sneaky...

Cloud didn't know and didn't want to know where and how Zach had gotten a very familiar blue dress (soft and slinky!) and blond wig, but that wasn't really relevant. At least there was no damn tiara.

Zach had not let up even when Cloud begged him to see that there was no reason for him to dress in drag if they were trying to make this a 'dating' thing. Cloud pouted at the Sephiroth's completely impersonal apartment. The leather couch still squeaked newness, the cushions so plump they obviously had never been sat on. Everything about the room was clean not due to hygiene, but lack of use. Did the General even sleep in here? Maybe Cloud would get lucky and just sit on the couch all night.

A few minutes later, Cloud sat back a bit and sighed. At least this was something that he hadn't done before. What with the Planet's seeming inability to tolerate him in the Lifestream for more than a few hours, he had done basically everything and every female Midgar had to offer. Over and over. He wondered if this would be considered a 'save point' and he would have to seduce Sephiroth until he got it 'right' or ran out of 'lives'. Knowing that the current living Zach had set him up for this whole thing, probably the Zach in the Lifestream would get a kick out of just that. Cloud winced. It could be one of those situations where only Aeris was standing in the way of Zach's Operation: Settle Sephiroth Into Happy.

Cloud had wanted to call it Sephiroth Happy Is Terrible, both because it was true- Cloud had only ever seen the man happy when he was psychotically destroying the world, and because any plan that Zack came up with to try to make Sephiroth Happy ended up SHIT-ty to the extreme. At least so far as Cloud could see. He was always vetoed. How SSIH was better Cloud never knew, though Zack got a kick out of going 'shhhhhhh' every time he saw Sephiroth. A good way to get oneself run through with Musume, in Cloud's opinion, especially with how the General's eyebrow tended to twitch when he saw Zack lately. It was definitely the 'I'm about to kill you' eyetwitch with a hint of 'I may or may not be sane while I do it'. In comparison, squeaking 'shit!' and running away was an extremely common reaction and did not even register in Sephiroth's mind. It probably meant that when Cloud finally had to kill him the man would ask who the hell he was, but then, Cloud was used to that. And much better than the few times he had become friends with the guy. The added betrayal made Cloud feel extremely guilty. Yes, definitely better to keep distance. Sort of like the opposite of what about to do.

The beep of the lock disengaging sent a shot of fear through Cloud's chest. "Shit!" He squeaked, sounding annoyingly feminine. He straightened in the seat and brushed his hands nervously down the pleats of his skirt.

The General walked in and closed the door with a definitive click. The tall man sagged and sighed, brushing his hand over his face. Sephiroth stood and walked unsteadily into the room, his usual poise dropped for the moment and revealing how tired and drugged he was.

Cloud could tell the second Sephiroth saw him as the other man straightened and his expression froze over.

They stared at each other in silence for many long moments before Cloud shrugged in a what-the-Hel gesture and spoke. "Hello."

After all that build up, it was a pretty lame opening. Oh well. It wasn't like any of the usual pick up lines would do anything besides make Cloud break out in hysterical laughter. Though this did present some unique opportunities. Such as: Is that Masamune or are you happy to see me? Cloud smirked slightly at the thought, though he was trying very hard to keep his face straight.

"I am not in the mood. You may go." Sephiroth growled. The General walked past the couch stiffly. He lacked his usual grace but was no longer obviously tired and drunk.

Cloud's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He hadn't gotten himself all worked up to be dismissed so easily. It didn't even occur to him to be relieved at the way he had obviously been forgotten. The General was walking the walk of a man who was having intense desire for being flat and, well, sleeping. That could have been another pick-up line, but Sephiroth really did not look like he was in a state to appreciate humor. Or potentially speech in general. However, Cloud was much too used to confrontations with the man ending up life or death and emotionally draining to even consider leaving it at that.

Cloud grabbed Sephiroth's arm and tugged on it firmly. Both were rather surprised when the taller man fell sideways onto Cloud's lap. The General blinked and looked a bit dazed at the sudden shift. Cloud wondered just how drunk Hojo's experiment had left the other and felt a slight twinge of guilt. He pushed that to the side as he steeled himself, grabbing Sephiroth's face on either side of his jaw and bringing the him down for a kiss. Cloud put all of his considerable experience into the effort, feeling annoyed at the whole situation. If he had to do this, then it would at least show off the skill that made many a woman swoon; it cut down considerably on the foreplay, which is why it was something he had put a lot of effort into learning. Besides, there was his male pride to consider.

Cloud was totally unprepared for the effect of the little moan that Sephiroth let out. He should have been, seeing as that was almost always an effect of the technique he had just used (in his mind, he called it his Kissing Limit Break, level 4). But in women it just made him feel smug. In Sephiroth, General of SOLDIER, hero of Wutai... The feeling of power went straight to his head and shot like a bolt through his body. Cloud shoved Sephiroth back onto the couch and levered his knees between the other man's legs, growling as he bit the other's neck. Sephiroth gasped and grabbed Cloud's hair. Or rather his wig.

"Mn?" Sephiroth muttered as he looked at the wig in his fist. The General's eyes flicked to Cloud's eyes and he blinked in confusion. His eyes were quite dilated and Cloud was unsure why. "Cloud?" Sephiroth asked, shaking his head. He threw the wig away and grabbed the dress, which did not last long against the mako enhanced strength.

Cloud froze as he found himself suddenly naked.

"Hmm." Sephiroth purred. "Much better."

Cloud blinked in surprise, earlier questions about the man's sexual preferences non-withstanding. Though the General had never seemed interested in either sex, he would at least put up with the women on occasion. Why the hell didn't the silver haired annoyance ever take up with any of the SOLDIERs? Or was it something about Cloud that Sephiroth liked? The thought made Cloud's rational side fly out the window and straight off the edge of the Plate.

Cloud growled and ran his hands down Sephiroth's front, humming in satisfaction as the General rose into his touch. He struggled a bit before he popped that one stupid clasp on Sephiroth's coat. He grinned as he could finally push the leather off the other man's shoulder. _This is a bad idea..._ came a faint throught from the back of Cloud's mind. But Sephiroth's whole body arched up as Cloud's hands went behind the other's back until their bare chests were flush against each other and he found he couldn't stop. No more than he could stop in the middle of one of their battles. It was too intense and even better than a fight... it was addictive. He maneuvered himself more securely between the other's legs and practically purred in satisfaction at the proof that Sephiroth was enjoying himself as much as he was.

Then it all went black.

OoooOoOO

"_I am so sorry Cloud! I do not know everything when we are alive, you know that. I would have never asked you to do that if I had know." Zach glowed slightly in the Lifestream. _

"_What the hell happened?" Cloud felt slightly bad to see his friend that distressed, but really- he deserved it. Never mind that Cloud felt more satisfied that he had in an almost unknowable amount of time. He hadn't been this excited, confused, worked up and basically... feeling something in longer than he cared to think about. Thankfully physical states did not translate into the Lifestream otherwise he had a suspicion he would have a horrific case of blue balls._

"_He cast Sleep on you, wigged out and ran you through with Masamune." Zach explained. _

_At the description Cloud could remember a brief moment of lucidity when he had woken up looking up the length of Masamune protruding through his chest to a very irate... naked... flushed... mmm..._

"_Cloud? Are you ok? I am _so sorry_ that I made you get stabbed by Sephiroth again." Zach gushed._

"_Zach, relax." Aeris sighed, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. She could actually hear the thoughts running through Cloud's mind and the rather catastrophic failure of his heterosexuality, so she wasn't worried about the Weapon's glassy stare as Zach was._

"_I'm fine." Cloud said absently. He couldn't quite get his mind off of his death... and what had lead up to it. What the hell had even happened? He felt confused._

"_I didn't know yet that he got so aggressive and emotionally unstable on the mako treatments. I usually learned later in the timeline that it makes Seph have massive mood swings and homicidal tendencies." Zach apologized again._

"_Huh. Than being crystallized in it for four plus years..."_

"_Yeah. Did not help him to get over his delusions of godhood and desire to destroy the world." Zach said with a sad smile._

"_Well, time's up Cloud. What do you want to do?" Aeris asked._

_"I think I need a vacation." Cloud mused. "I'm obviously losing my mind."_

_As Cloud faded from the Lifestream, Aeris shot a sad look at Zack. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" She asked him._

_Zack shrugged. "There isn't much that can be done about it, is there?" He asked philosophically._

"_But... maybe if you told him?"_

_Zack laughed humorlessly. "Tell him that I'm not the Zack he thinks I am but a splintered mirror of a soul that gave him schizophrenia? I don't think so. It was enough that I made him bear that burden to begin with. He doesn't need another. What he needs is for this shit to end."_

"_You know that can't happen, Zack." Aeris said sadly. "The Planet needs to live, and its old method of packing up and leaving, well... it didn't really work, did it?"_

"_I know." Zack sighed. "But why does he have to be aware of it?"Zack shook his head. "Don't answer that." After all, the answer to that question was the same one that he was not telling Cloud. Zack/Cloud trapped in the Lifestream both prevented the real Cloud from staying, allowed the Planet to maintain a timeline for the loops and thus have them work at all AND meant that both he and Cloud were never going to have the blessed gift of forgetting and ignorance._

"_In a way, you saved the Planet, Zack." Aeris said sadly as she began to fade into her reincarnation._

"_Yeah." Zack said as he watched her completely disappear. It didn't matter that it was the Planet that had twisted his already rather bizarre attempt at comfort by quoting his mentor into shattering two souls... it was still him that set up the situation. It hadn't happened to Angeal when he'd said the same time, after all. "Yeah, I'm a real hero. Whoop dee do." He sighed and contemplated the endless, empty fields of the Promised Lands. "Being a hero fucking sucks."_

OoOOo

A/N: Chocobo Day is a reference to Groundhog Day (the movie) which somewhat inspired this story as there was a marathon running when I got attacked by this plot bunny. The 'Vacation' part basically can be translated to 'Crack ahead!' Rated M because, well... because of this chapter? Probably I will not get totally lemon-y, though. Yes, I am aware that this is what 'M' usually means.

There is more of this written and I will probably post it soon-ish. Contemplating if I want to do an update schedule like I did for Fuzzy Logic (one chapter/3 weeks) but life is crazy now, so may or may not happen. Also I just sort of started another story... and need to finish that damn HP one. And there is always my original stuff... only so many hours in the day for hobbies, yo!

Having Cloud swear by 'Hel' is a nod to some other FFVII fic I read a while ago that had a lot of Norse mythology in it, which I thought was cool. Even though I have Cloud later mentioning that his home food is rather Tibetan. Um... fantasy world? Yeah, we'll go with that as an explanation.

Like basically all of my stories, this one was based off of (stupidly) asking the question 'why does it have to always be the same?' after reading waaaaay too many time travel fics, which lead to an attack by a(n evil) plot bunny. This particular story also brought to you by the vitamin C. No, not the one in citrus, the one in coffee.


	2. Unrecognized Beginning

OoOOooOoo

Chapter 2

OOOoOo

Cloud looked around. He appeared to be somewhere rural. Interesting. It must be one of those loops where he was dumped somewhere random. It happened that way sometimes, either with or without his younger other-self being alive. The more loops he was in, the less his personal experience seemed to correlate to his 'real life'. It was a good thing, really, otherwise he would have long gone insane. Or gone insane faster... or something.

There was the one time where he got sent long into the future and the few times he had been far in the past... that had been interesting. Living tens of centuries before Sephiroth killed him and the Planet died or coming right as the Planet was gasping its last breaths... at least there was variety. Cloud wasn't sure any of them- the Planet, himself, Aeris or Zach, even really knew what the point and the motivation for the looping was anymore. That was fine. Cloud didn't care overly much. But this time, in some random rural place... hopefully he could avoid Sephiroth. He shifted uneasily at the thought of the man, somewhere between aroused and uncomfortable. He decided to just ignore it and hope it went away.

Cloud headed off into the distance, patting himself down as he did so. A broadsword of no particular make over his back, a Full Cure materia half-mastered, a Tunderaga on his person... he estimated that he was about 60% of his ultimate high. "Level 69." Cloud said to himself, then smirked. "Or perhaps 66.6?" He mused. "Either way I should stop talking to myself."

First order of business would be to upgrade the sword with some purified mako. He was high enough level in general that nothing much would bother him, but it would be annoying if his sword broke or wasn't sharp enough to actually do damage. It wasn't anywhere close to his level. Then maybe he could get some gil killing monsters on the way to the beach... There was that one girl that he'd shacked up with around this time before. That had been fun. Or maybe he could do something different? Was there anything left to do?

Well, in order to upgrade the sword, he would need to master the Full Cure materia. And possibly get a regular Restore for general use. There was nothing more irritating than dying because you ran out of potions and didn't have a way to Cure yourself.

OoOOOoOoo

Some time later Cloud was happily walking into the town with gil in his pocket and a mastered Full Cure in his hand. Sure letting a bunch of monsters hit you over and over was a bit degrading, but subsequently healing oneself both made the materia level quicker and had the added bonus of making any masochist's wet dreams come true. It also had the side effect of having the monsters get bored and wander off. Ironically they tended to leave behind _more_ lootables than simply killing them. It was rather amusing seeing the monsters pull gil and potions out of places that really should not hold any item and chucking them at a human in frustration... it was a very satisfying way to battle. Or rather, protest for peace. Or something. "I'm on vacation, dammit!" Cloud grumbled. "It's perfectly valid."

He tossed the materia up and down lightly and suppressed the urge to whistle. He ignored the calls from stall vendors until he smelled a heavenly aroma. One detour later and the materia was back in his pocket and he was gnawing delicious, juicy meat off some creature's bone. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly... and how did one get meat anyway if things went back to the Lifestream when they died? Hmm. A delightful conundrum. Perhaps he could become some sort of herder this time?

OoOOoOoo

The reactor was well guarded, but when you can leap several stories it isn't terribly difficult to make your way inside. There was even a hole in the upper levels that lead straight to the mako.

Cloud found an isolated pool of mako and dropped the Full Cure into it. He spun the sword lazily before gathering himself and his MP and stabbing the Full Cure through the mako. It exploded into pleasing glitters of sparkling essence. The mako flashed and then turned clear and parts of the top layer started to evanesce.

"What are you doing?" Came a challenging demand behind him.

"I'm done." Cloud pulled the now unbreakable sword from the mako and flicked the fluid off of it.

"'Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess.'" A different voice murmured in irritation behind him.

Cloud's brow furrowed as he spun on his heel. And yes, it was who he thought it was. The two deserters, sporting mirror opposite wings, black and white. Genesis had a bit of grey in his roots but Angeal looked rather normal. "Hnn."

"I said, 'wha...'" Angeal began again but didn't get to finish his sentence. Cloud had grabbed both of them by their collars and thrown them into the vat behind him.

"What the hell!" The two Firsts came spluttering out of the mako, treading to stay afloat.

"I am on vacation." Cloud announced.

"And that means you decided to dump us into a vat of mako?" Genesis snapped.

"Yes. It's Full Cured mako, which means it is basically Lifestream, really. It's a tricky thing to get right. Because, of course, if you make it too close to Lifestream it evaporates away much like a body. Speaking of which, how is it that we are able to eat anything? Do you know?" Cloud replied.

The two in the vat turned to look at each other then back at the crazy man with a head of hair like a chocobo's butt.

"Why did you throw us into a pool of mako?" Angeal said, drawing on all the patience earned dealing with his puppy and Sephiroth on a daily basis to not leap out of the liquid and throttle the man.

"Well, I got the idea from the time... I guess it wasn't me... but these memories can be rather confused, you know? But anyway..." Cloud paused to knock both SOLDIERs back into the liquid when they tried to climb out. It was a tricky situation since they couldn't get leverage and their ability to fly didn't seem to be working for them presently. Why being wet would affect the wings when only having one didn't seem to be detrimental to flying wasn't something anyone in the room questioned. Out loud anyway.

Cloud might have, if he hadn't already been ranting. "There is the pseudo-science/genetics way of curing the degeneration that leaves you open to attacks from Jenova, or there is the Planet way of being infused with Lifestream. I want to enjoy my life for a while, which means no clones of either of you running around and no civil wars thank-you-very-much." Cloud continued, knocking the two back into the vat enough times that the two decided to bide their time.

Surprisingly neither Genesis nor Angeal seemed to be having any ill effects from the dunking, though their tolerance was high generally speaking. Genesis scratched absently at his shoulder and started in surprise when it didn't really hurt all that much. He twisted around so fast he dunked himself double checking. But it was his previously wounded shoulder that he was poking at. And the bone-deep ache that had been there was receding rapidly. "'My friend, your desire/ Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess.'" Genesis whispered in shock.

"Your hair..." Angeal gaped at his long-time friend. Whose roots were now the same auburn as the rest of him. "Your coat!" And indeed, the garment seemed to be healing as well.

"Who is this?" Genesis shifted his hand to avoid it being struck by the sword wielded by Cloud. He had grabbed onto the edge to keep himself from sinking, no longer from any desire to get out of the fluid. "Who are you?" This question was directed at Cloud.

Cloud blinked. "A traveler." He replied enigmatically. "Who is tired of fighting. This is much better than trying to kill one another, don't you think?"

"Yes?" Angeal answered dubiously. "How did you overpower us? Where did you come from? Your eyes aren't even glowing!" His voice rose with every interrogative.

"You don't need mako to be awesome. Plenty of regular soldiers can leap up flights of stairs. Hel, some civilians can!" Cloud shook his head. "And it is quite hard to go through life anonymous with glowing eyes. Admit it."

"'My soul, corrupted by vengeance/ Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey/ In my own salvation.'" Genesis quoted slowly. "Is this really happening, Angeal?"

"It seems to be." Angeal replied dubiously.

"I... how am I supposed to interpret 'Loveless' with this new information! He has completely derailed the plotline and the three main characters... it's all done. Will it be the ending they give to children? What a mundane existence..." Genesis muttered.

Cloud took a step forward intently, causing the both of them to twitch in the mako. "I need to ask you a very important question." He said seriously. "Would you go gay for Sephiroth?"

"What?" Angeal sputtered.

"No way- he is like a brother to us." Genesis retorted.

"A brother..." Cloud mused. That might make it difficult for Operation: Settle Sephiroth Into Happy. But maybe renewed friendship and pseudo-family bonds would be enough? Well, not that it really mattered. He was not going to try this time. But maybe the change would allow him more time before the world was destroyed.

"If I were going to go gay, I think it would be Rufus Shinra." Genesis mused.

"Genesis!" Angeal exclaimed, appalled.

"What?" Genesis said defensively. "He's hot. Admit it. And he has all that power! With overtones of Daddy-syndrome and so much potential."

"Genesis." Angeal sighed.

"I mean, sure, the fairer sex is definitely the way to go. 'She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.'"

"Genesis!" Angeal snapped. He turned back to yell at the stranger, but... "He's gone." And with that, the larger man pulled himself out of the mako vat and dropped to the floor.

Genesis dropped down after his friend. His wing felt heavy, though the mako was hissing off of it like it would a corpse. Which was, admittedly, a bit concerning. He pulled the wing back into his body and patted down the now healed shoulder and coat. "Interesting."

"Indeed." Angeal leapt after the blond. Genesis quickly followed. But they were too late. Cloud had already highjacked a gryphon Angeal clone and was flying off into the horizon. Try as they might, the two friends could not get their wings back out to follow. "'The arrow has left the bow of the goddess'" Genesis muttered.

OoOoOOOoo

Cloud went into a trance on the back of the beast. Once the two of them had worked out that no, Cloud was not going to get off and that no, the beast would NOT be directed, they had ended up in an uneasy but stable alliance. It wasn't until Cloud started to shiver that he came back to himself.

"Of course you came here." Cloud sighed. Apparently this damn thing was part homing pigeon. Going back to where it was created. In this case, Modeohiem. "At least it isn't Nibelhiem." Cloud groused. He leapt off of the creature's back and calmly fell through the air. About halfway to the ground it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn't sure how high a height he could currently survive falling from. He certainly had survived this sort of plunge in the past, but that had been mako-enhanced. And assertions of fully-mad scientists to half-mad failed experiments aside, there was something to be said for the healing properties of SOLDIER enhancements as well as the increase in stamina and durability. At this point, though, it probably didn't matter. And Cloud had absolutely zero fear of death. If he could manage to stay dead it would be a Planet-wide miracle.

Unfortunately or fortunately, he survived the fall just fine. He may as well have just jumped over the last stair in the staircase for all the impact it had on his legs. The ground ended up with a relatively large crater, however.

A considerable while later he managed to get to the town. Not because it was particularly far, but more because he used his new 'outwait' method to deal with the local monster population. The only change in strategy was to dodge attacks instead of taking the hits and then healing as he currently had only the Thunderaga.

Correction- a Modeo wolf tried to hit him with a potion but Cloud caught it and stuffed it in his pockets. Cloud had wondered while dancing with the monsters if his pockets were ever going to fill or if this was another one of those things, like food, that one just didn't discuss in polite company. Certainly the origin of said potion was not the least bit pleasant. It was probably pretty uncomfortable having glass up the...

"An inn! Perfect!" Cloud said a bit too brightly, interrupting his own thought process. "And good old-fashioned mountain food I hope."

Cloud entered the dark but thankfully warm inn gratefully and sat down at a table with his back to the wall and eyes towards the most obvious exits.

"Hello there. Would you like the special?" The waitress came over rather quickly seeing as the place was mostly empty. "It is a cold weather soup with vegetables and goat."

"Absolutely." Cloud said gratefully. "And tea, please." 

"Are you from the area?" The waitress asked dubiously, eying Cloud's non-sleeved shirt. On the one hand, only an idiot would walk around without proper gear in the mountains. But on the other hand, only a native would consider no sleeves as proper wear for this weather. It was, after all, still warm enough the sun could potentially melt the top most layer of snow during mid-day.

"Why?" Cloud asked. "Oh! The tea?" The waitress raised an eyebrow. Cloud put his hands up to his heart and smiled with a trembling lip. "Oh, please tell me you can make it with butter and salt?"

The waitress's other eyebrow rose. "We most certainly do." She eyed the stranger again. She was leaning toward native, but you never knew when an insane tourist would want to 'go local' and would end up spewing the brew all over the table.

"You have no idea how much I miss a proper tea. They have no concept of it anywhere else. I have been drinking coffee of all things." Cloud shuddered.

Mollified that this was, indeed, a local, albeit one from another town and quite possible mentally unbalanced, the waitress nodded. "I have heard the stories, of course." She commiserated. "It must have been quite horrible for you."

"You have no idea." Cloud replied emphatically.

"I'll bring your order right on out, alright?"

"Thanks!" Cloud said, feeling much more cheerful than when he had landed. Maybe a vacation in the mountains was just what he needed after all. The beaches were over-rated and rather boring, really, when you came right down to it. And they certainly did not have meals that could still instill such a sense of nostalgia.

OoOoOOoO

"Genesis! Angeal!" Lazard looked at the two of them with such a look of shock on his face that it was quite comical.

"Hello Director." Angeal said genially.

"'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul/ Pride is lost/ Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.'" Genesis muttered. Only Lazard did not hear the comment. The others in the room had enhanced hearing and had no troubles making out what he said. Although Sephiroth continued to stand ram-rod straight without expression and Zach's swings between elation, confusion and anger only shifted marginally more into confusion at the quote.

"What... you... how did you... This is a secure building!" Lazard sputtered.

"Our vacation was quite satisfactory, thank you." Angeal inclined his head.

"Your _vacation_?" Lazard exploded, throwing his arms into the air.

"Did you not receive our leave request forms?" Angeal asked innocently. "Genesis was supposed to file them. Genesis?"

The red head threw a startled look at his friend before raising an eyebrow. "This is the first I have heard of it." He replied honestly.

Angeal sighed. "I suppose it was inevitable, leaving such things to a thespian."

Genesis clutched his breast dramatically and quoted sorrowfully. "'My friend, the fates are cruel/ There are no dreams, no honor remains!'"

"Well..." Lazard started hesitantly. He knew for a fact that the two had been... and should still be... being experimented upon by Dr. Hollander. But neither of them looked like they were suffering degradation anymore. Had they been cured? Why had he not been told about this? And just the thought of the paperwork that would be necessary to bring them back from the dead (and more challengingly) off the deserters' list was frankly horrifying. "I am glad your vacation was so satisfactory." Lazard sighed in defeat. It wasn't like he could say no to the second and third most powerful SOLDIERs and two of the three with Jenova cells.

"We threw out your 'Loveless' collection." Sephiroth said flatly, his voice ice.

There was a moment of stunned silence in the room.

"You _what!_" Genesis shrieked.

OoOoOoOoO

Cloud sat back against his glowing backrest and sighed contentedly. The barley bread and spicy meat had definitely hit the spot. "It's too bad I can't share." He mused. "You haven't eaten in, what? Three thousand years? That's got to be some kind of gnawing hunger." He looked over his shoulder at the glowing eye of JENOVA. He couldn't decide if the eye was looking at him, or just glowing at the room indiscriminately.

"I mean, ok, trying to kill every living thing on the Planet maybe wasn't a nice way to greet your host, but it's not like the Planet hasn't tried to do that, too. Hel! The Planet would up and leave us all and bail if it decided it needed to. Omega WEAPON- what kind of good idea is that? I say it can't possibly be hard to snap up everyone into the Lifestream and bounce on over to a new Planet together instead of going about traumatically killing them and then deciding, oh no, actually, I'm just going to drop you like a teenage girl drops her newborn baby in the dumpster." This time there was definitely a flicker of the eye in his direction. Cloud smirked. "I know you can talk to people, you know. But you can't control me if that's what you are waiting for." He said seriously. Ever since finding JENOVA he had been coming up for a picnic lunch at the base of her prison.

Cloud shrugged and started to pack up his lunch basket.

"_You know what I am."_ The voice skittered against the edges of Cloud's mind like hasty nails across a chalkboard. Only experience kept Cloud from reacting. _"Why are you sitting here... chatting." _

"Instead of killing you or something, you mean?" Cloud shrugged. "Been there, done that."

"_Yes, I can feel my death upon your soul. And the remnants of non-linear time. What is the Planet playing at?"_ She hissed into his mind.

"Honestly? I just don't ask the question anymore. He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and rocked back and forth a couple times in contemplation. "Sort of like I don't ask why you want to kill everyone on the Planet. It's just better to accept these things."

"_I wish to leave this planet. I am trapped so long as the Planet inhabits the soil. I must make it leave."_ The voice in the head was growling now, and Cloud was glad that he did not currently have any cells that would allow him to experience the emotion going alongside the comment.

"That... makes a strange amount of sense." Cloud allowed.

"_If They did not want me here in the first place, They should not have pulled me from my Path through the stars."_ JENOVA said bitterly. _"I had no interest in this Planet. I have met such Creatures before and no good has come of it."_

"Really?" Cloud asked in surprise. The thought of more than one Lifestream-blooded Planet out there had honestly not occurred to him. The way it had been explained to him the Lifestream built up as things lived on the planet. JENOVA seemed to be implying that it was the other way around. That there were more than one Planet... an interesting concept.

"_You are surprised at their duplicity? How has your own life been, WEAPON?"_ JENOVA said with faint irony. Which lead to a slightly less abrasive mental voice.

Cloud eyed the alien warily. "I am not going to be brainwashed into working for you, but I can concede the point." He said finally. He ruminated on what she had said for a while. He could choose to believe her or not, he supposed, but it was a rather outrageous claim. And this JENOVA didn't know him at all and was powerless currently. Why she would lie about it was somewhat beyond him. "Why not use a rocket then, to leave?"

"_The rocket failed."_JENOVA said flatly.

"It did, didn't it." Cloud said slowly. Not that ShinRa would want to lose their valuable asset and source of their perfect SOLDIER.

"_ShinRa... betrayers!"_ JENOVA screamed.

Cloud winced, but did not grab his head as he knew the pain was all mental. Physical means would do nothing. "Yes, they are absolutely jerks." Cloud soothed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The glowing eye narrowed at Cloud, turning an unhealthy red color.

"If we work together, maybe we can get you off this rock, eh? Hel, even if you came back for revenge and killed the Planet... disappearing into nothingness has a certain appeal at this point, though I would prefer to be able to stay in the Lifestream."

"_I would... very much like to leave."_JENOVA said so softly that it was almost gentle. _"There is no possible way I would come back Here!" _She finished with a shriek.

Cloud winced again. "Maybe not you, but perhaps a relative of some sort? Do you even reproduce like we do? Have a parent or something."

"_They know where I am."_ The alien replied petulantly. _"They could have rescued Me if They so chose. They warned Me about the danger. I knew the danger. I ignored Them and They probably think I will 'grow' and 'learn' from this."_

Cloud had a budding suspicion. "How long do your kind live. You know, on average."

There was a long pause and Cloud wondered if maybe he had overstepped some boundary. Last time he had done that he had ended up with Masume through his ribs. And the time before that... and before that... it was a rather common way to die. Now if only he could always get Sephiroth to do it while disheveled and half naked... or fully naked... or... Cloud blinked and focused on JENOVA. _Think about mako... the Calamity... Hojo in his underwear. Eugh!_ Cloud shuddered. _That worked._

The feel of JENOVA in the back of his mind assumed a distinctly puzzled flavor. _"Human, you are very odd."_ She said finally. _"But your suspicion is correct. When I first crash landed, I was very young for my race. Even now I would be barely considered an adult. They might not even think of the millennia I have spent here as truly aging me."_

"I see." That certainly changed the perspective. Not a malicious force come to subvert and destroy but a young adult having a temper tantrum. Assuming that a word coming out of her.. uh... mind could be trusted.

"_Though this time has likely assured I will not resorb into my parent when we meet again."_ JENOVA mused.

"Resorb?" Cloud asked. He had a suspicion that she meant a Reunion type event, but on a larger scale.

"_You have the concept of it, yes. Sent from out father, we fly to new horizons. Back too soon a messenger. Kept apart a child."_

"That's... one way of procreating." Cloud allowed. And it was rather like what the Lifestream did, to be honest. On a massive scale and with a rather sinister vibe. "Are you, by chance, a fan of 'Loveless'?" Cloud asked finally. That last conversation had a somewhat bad poetry feel to it.

"_'Loveless?'"_

Cloud's grin turned feral. "Oh, you are definitely going to owe me a favor for this one."

OoOoOOo

A/N: Been ridiculously busy... so forgot about writing. Oops! This has been sitting on the computer a while. First while I played through FFVII (mostly a fun experience). Then life hit. Ak!

Cloud's tea preferences are based on Tibetan customs.

Genesis' lines are coming mostly from Loveless (from FFVII).


	3. A Series of Unfortunate Events

OoOoOoOoo

Chapter 3

OOooOooOO

"How could you abandon me?" Zach yelled at the cornered Angeal.

"I didn't abandon you, Puppy..."

"Don't call me that!" Zach growled.

"You did abandon and betray us. Both of you." Sephiroth said with no more emotion than he had shown this entire time. All three flicked worried glances at the General. Angeal's and Genesis' held an element of guilt, Zach's a bit of surprise. He had almost forgotten the man was standing there, he was so still.

"It... wasn't like that." Angeal said hopelessly.

"We were sick." Genesis said flatly, not hiding behind metaphors to show how serious he was. "We were dying. I don't know if it would have taken weeks or months or years, but our bodies were decaying. That wound I got in the spar? It never healed. A fucking giant black wing sprouted out of it instead!" Genesis waved his arms around in agitation. "But that wasn't the worst part. It did something to our minds. It was so difficult to think properly. Everything was... it was a conspiracy. It seemed that way."

Angeal nodded and sighed. "I thought I was a monster. I felt I should act like one. I... I gave up my honor and pride. It was... it seemed like what I should do."

"Angeal..." Zach said sadly, his eyes getting wide and watery.

"How, then, are you healed?" Sephiroth asked, the barest hint of confused emotion cracking through his mental ice shield.

"That's the oddest part of the whole thing." Angeal lifted his hands in a helpless gesture and shook his head.

"'My friend, your desire/ Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess.'" Genesis said reverently.

"Speak plainly." Sephiroth snapped.

"There was a man. He had blond hair and looked like he was in an extremely outdated SOLDIER First jumpsuit." Angeal replied in bewilderment. "He did something very odd to a vat of mako. When we asked him what he was doing he started spouting nonsense. And then, before we could counter, he had grabbed us and flung us in."

"He was so fast it was like we were regular army. Barely seen!" Genesis added.

"Impossible." Sephiroth denied.

"But somehow possible." Angeal shook his head. "I don't understand it either."

"And then, we were healed. A 'gift of the goddess', it must have been." Genesis said excitedly. "Of the Planet? Of Jenova? Who knows. Erk!"

"What do you know of Jenova?" Sephiroth asked, his focus eerily intense on the other SOLDIER he had dangling from his fist.

"She is an alien. We were injected with her cells. It was why we were dying." Angeal replied for the suffocating man held in Sephiroth's steel grip. "As you were, likely. You were made..." Angeal winced at the closing off of his silver-haired friend's expression. "Sephiroth, there is no shame in it. We could not help our births. We thought we were monsters because of the madness. It..."

Sephiroth dropped Genesis, who landed mostly gracefully on his feet. "My mother if Jenova." Sephiroth said, not looking at anything in particular. "I am not human." He turned and walked out of the room. If he had been any less controlled about it, the other three might have been tempted to call it fleeing.

"Nice work." Genesis coughed. "You handled that very smoothly."

Angeal frowned at the redhead before turning back to look out the door.

"Could Seph get this madness, too?" Zack asked hesitantly.

Angeal and Genesis looked at each other worriedly.

"I mean, not that he was terribly stable and emotionally healthy to begin with." Zack continued nervously into the horrified silence.

"Oh shit." Genesis cursed.

"If you wanted to take over the world..." Angeal said slowly, not wanting the thought to be finished.

"And _you_ were set to become a monster..." Genesis continued. He allowed that he was not the most grounded of the SOLDIERs, but Angeal certainly was up there on the stable scale. And if it had affected him that much... "'But the three are still bound by a solemn oath/ To seek the answer together, once again.'" Genesis said solemnly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zack asked in confusion.

"It means that we need to go after him and make sure he doesn't try to destroy the world." Angeal said grimly. "We are the only ones who might be able to reach him. And I, for one, refuse to abandon and betray him again."

OoOoOoOoOoo

Cloud was cranky enough entering the Midgar slums after his long and overly complicated journey that the sight of the empty church started his eye to twitching. "Ok, calm down." He said to himself. "No need to become a Calamity yourself. No matter how temping it would be. Just a little, local one..."

"Hello."

The voice was soft but Cloud jumped regardless. He landed facing the owner of the soft voice and felt some of his annoyance fade while other parts of it grew. "Aeris, I need to talk to you." Cloud said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked in puzzlement. The emotion deep behind her eyes was fear however.

Cloud sighed. "Just..." He looked behind her and prodded the door to the church closed with the tip of his sword, causing Aeris to flinch out of the way.

"Are you a SOLDIER?" Aeris whispered fearfully.

"Not today." Cloud replied. It didn't serve to console her much. But then, Cloud supposed it wasn't really all that comforting a thing to say. "Listen, just ask the Planet, ok? I get really tired of explaining it to you all the time. And I could really use the Aeris in the know, you know?"

Aeris' eyes were even wider and she was getting alarmingly pale.

Cloud sighed. "I'm a WEAPON of the Planet, Aeris. I've been sent back in time an unknowable number of times and I'm starting to have this suspicion."

"Suspicion?" Aeris asked faintly.

"Yeah. I talked with JENOVA, you see..."

"You spoke with the Calamity!" Aeris squeaked. Cloud began to have a bit of doubt about this conversation. Maybe Aeris was just too young to handle this sort of stress?

"Yes, I did. I wonder why I never did before, you know? If you don't have her cells in you it can be an actual conversation. But it wasn't just what she said that got me to thinking." Cloud hurried to assure Aeris. "She was just sort of a catalyst."

"A catalyst." Aeris said weakly, sinking into one of the pews.

Cloud huffed in annoyance. This was not going well. Maybe he should just make a mental note and ask Aeris next time he was in the Lifestream. "You know what, forget it. I'm on vacation and I already ended up back in gods-cursed Midgar all agitated. I need to find a cave somewhere to hole up in and ignore the world or something." He winced. If he could stand the boredom. "Or maybe go wake up Vincent and spar with him or something." Or go see if he could finish what he started without Sephiroth skewering him. With the sword, that is. And preferably without the dress, though if that was what it took to get things going maybe... "Argh! I will kill Zack for corrupting me!" Cloud growled. "And I'm not letting him stab me with anything!"

Aeris looked at him worriedly. "Do you always talk to yourself?" She asked softly.

Cloud crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. "I seem to, yes. It seems to be a bad habit I picked up somewhere. Probably the Lifestream. It's not like you can keep anything inside your mind in there."

"You remember the Lifestream?" Aeris asked with wide eyes.

Cloud felt a sudden pang of sorrow. It was rather rare now, but he did miss that distant memory of having people who actually knew what he was talking about. When secrets were simple and kept because they were embarrassing, not because it was easier to let it go than to explain and oh-by-the-way it could end the world earlier than usual if it got out. Cloud sighed heavily. "Never mind."

"Ok." Aeris said in worried confusion. "Here, have a flower." She pulled out a spikey yellow one and handed it to him. "See, this one looks like you." She smiled.

Cloud smiled sadly. "Thanks, Aeris."

"You're welcome." She patted him on an arm. "Don't let this Zack fellow get to you. I don't think you should stab him or let him stab you."

Cloud blanched. "Eugh!" He shuddered. That mental image was too disturbing to even use to cool his libido next time it reared its ugly head.

"Sir?" Aeris asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it. My mind has apparently become stuck in a deep, dark gutter right next to the rotting corpse."

Aeris looked disturbed.

"Yeah. Exactly." Cloud muttered. Now it was time to get out of Midgar before someone or something else happened.

OooOoOOOOoo

"You got the PHS text, too?" Zack asked Genesis. He was bouncing next to his mentor, somewhat nervously and somewhat elatedly. It still hadn't totally sunken in that the Firsts were back.

"Nope. Just you so far." Genesis grinned. "I was with Angeal when he got your message and decided to come along."

"Oh." Zack looked confused. And then downright shocked as the General swept by them without so much as a word and entered the Turk domain. The three of them had been avoiding actually stepping into the hallway even though that was where the summons directed them to.

"'My friend, do you fly away now?/ To a world that abhors you and I?'" Genesis called after Sephiroth, who twitched minutely. Or he may have just been rounding the corner.

"Let's go." Angeal started off after the silver mane with squared shoulders.

They entered into a room filled with all sorts of recording equipment. Sephiroth was already in one corner, arms crossed over his chest and looking like a grouchy gargoyle for all he was moving.

"Zack." Tseng acknowledged the Second and swept an eyebrow at his two tails. "We detained a subject down under the plate today for suspicious activity. He mentioned your name."

"My full name?" Zack asked. He tried to think of anyone that he knew in the slums and came up rather blank.

"No, just 'Zack'. We are not certain he meant you. But we have been unable to get him to say anything after we apprehended him. We are hoping that perhaps you can give us an ID or something to work on." Tseng replied.

"Uh, sure. Ok." Zack rubbed the back of his neck.

Tseng motioned to the Turk manning the equipment and the window became clear. Zach looked at the lean blond in confusion. "I don't know..."

"Him!" Angeal and Genesis burst out at the same time.

"You know this man?" Tseng focused on the two like a hound on a scent.

"Well, not really." Genesis shrugged. "He..." Genesis shook his head. "'Though the prisoner escapes, he is gravely wounded/ His life is saved, however.'"

Tseng looked mildly irritated by the quote. Which probably meant that he was extremely annoyed.

All eyes turned to the mystery man as he stood and walked over to the window and tapped on it. His mouth started moving and a few seconds later the words were piped through speakers at Tseng's nod.

"Hey, I appreciate your concern and all, but I'm on vacation. So if I could just be on my way that would be fabulous."

"He said that to us, too. What does he mean 'vacation'?" Angeal asked.

"Why don't you ask him." Zack offered.

"He said something about not fighting, but he had just done something with his sword and materia before we confronted him and then attacked us, so I am not sure how sincere he is about this 'peacefulness.'" Angeal shrugged.

Tseng leaned down and spoke into the microphone. "What do you mean you are on vacation?"

This time the reply was real-time as the speakers were on. "I mean that I refuse to kill anything, attempt to get stronger, or be stressed out." The man said, crossing his arms over his chest. "And being stuck in a lab is not conducive to any of these things." Sephiroth twitched in the corner.

As did Tseng, but for different reasons. "We're the Turks not some damned collection service for the Science Department."

"I'm going to go speak with him." Sephiroth announced.

"Wait! This is Turk jurisdiction. You already barged in here without being asked _with_ different SOLDIERs than I requested." Tseng protested.

The three other SOLDIERs looked at each other in surprise. They had assumed Sephiroth had gotten a summons as well. How else would he have known where to go?

"My Firsts just reported that they were assaulted by this man, making it also my jurisdiction, regardless of what you arrested him for." Sephiroth said coolly as he turned the corner, not bothering to further comment on Tseng's indignant growl.

OoOoOOoo

Cloud was bored. And a bit anxious, he had to say. It wasn't the first time he had ever been picked up by the Turks. He should have realized it was a possibility when he went to Aeris, really. Especially with all the crap he was saying. He sighed. Refusing to be stressed out apparently led to a big case of foot-in-mouth disease.

He looked up hopefully as the door lock disengaged. And then went utterly still in shock.

Sephiroth had closed the door again and took two steps towards him before Cloud snapped out of it.

"I have the worst luck!" Cloud whined.

Sephiroth's demeanor stiffened even further. Cloud knew to interpret this as a sign of the General hiding something. What? Good question. He had a feeling that even being able to read the thoughts behind those cat slit eyes would not leave him any more knowledgeable.

Cloud thunked his head onto the window in front of him.

"Why did you assault my SOLDIERs?" Sephiroth asked coldly.

Cloud leaned against the window and said nothing. He raised an eyebrow.

Sephiroth took a step closer.

"Stay back!" Cloud said, his voice a bit higher than it really ought to be. He was not ready to do this. Why the hell had he come to Midgar? Oh right, because he had had a sudden thought and needed to rush to get it answered, obviously. It wasn't like he was an immortal time traveler with all the time in the universe or anything.

Sephiroth deliberately took two more steps forward. "Why did you assault my SOLDIERs." He repeated.

"You, sir, are asking for it." Cloud warned.

Sephiroth took another two steps forward. Cloud felt his sword holster- sans weapon at the moment- brush against the concrete wall. "Why..." Sephiroth began again.

Cloud poked the General in the chest, ignoring the delighted tingles his body serenaded him with originating from the fingertip in question. Sephiroth blinked with a sudden blank look. Cloud was pretty sure that the look was due to shock not emotional walls. The General's hand was uselessly raised halfway to block, but the movement had been too slow.

"I told you to stay back." Cloud said firmly. Sephiroth moved as if to walk forward. "Do you want me to poke you again?" Cloud demanded. And then tried to suppress the mental images. "Dirty, dirty..." He muttered to himself.

Sephiroth looked confused, then angry before his face blanked again.

"Not you. Me." Cloud said, wanting to nip that in the bud before it became a full blown angsty drama about 'not being human' and 'cleansing the world' etc.

Sephiroth still looked confused.

"Never mind." Cloud sighed. He seemed to be saying that a lot lately. "The crux of the matter is that I really do want to just relax for a while, but I think I've become an habitual meddler." He confessed. "Ok, fine." Cloud said after there was a long moment of silence. "Go ahead and stab me. Right through the heart if you would. I don't want to suffer unduly." Cloud tapped the familiar spot on his left breast.

"Do not stab the subject!" Tseng's voice came over the speakers.

Sephiroth crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Cloud steadily, studying him.

"Well either way, back off." Cloud said, stepping away from the wall. This put him only one step away from running into the General. Cloud brought both his hands up and was about to push the other back when his wrists were grabbed. Cloud lowered his hands from the flat push position and flicked Sephiroth's shoulders.

"Do not touch me." Sephiroth bit out.

"I will touch you if I want to touch you." Cloud smirked, poking the General again, though the other tried to force his hands away, Cloud would not let him. "See?" He poked him again. He knew he was heading for an impaling, but it was sort of fun to rile up Sephiroth like this. Plus that heady feeling of doom rushing towards him. Cloud was pretty sure he was addicted to it. Sort of like he was addicted to Seph... "I am not!" Cloud snapped, pushing forward until he almost was pressing against the General's body but not moving him an inch.

"You are not... what?" Sephiroth demanded, and odd gleam in his eye.

"I am not discussing with you my irritating habit of talking to myself, that's what." Cloud grumbled.

"I believe that you are." Sephiroth noted. The gleam was getting stronger. Was that... humor?

"Sir, stop groping the detainee and let the Turks do their job!" Came a playful voice over the speakers.

The gleam was gone and Sephiroth's icy stare was back. Cloud could practically feel the chill... because he was about an inch away from the General's nose. With a start of surprise he leaned back out of the way. Sephiroth released him and Cloud let his hands fall to the sides. "Isn't that Genesis?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Aren't you... friends?" Cloud asked. Sephiroth's gaze flicked to the window and back and his face went to solid stone. Cloud frowned. If Genesis _wasn't_ a friend, then would the healing thing backfire on him? Oh well. It seemed either way he was going to die soon.

"'One becomes a hero, one wanders the land/ And the last is taken prisoner.'" Comes over the speaker again, followed by a brief racket then a mechanical squeal as the audio cut out.

"'Loveless' Act 1. But I can assure you it's only me. If I have to, I would really like to be the one wandering the land, though." Cloud said. His eyes didn't leave the General's. He was waiting for something to happen. "If I defeat you in a duel, would you let me go?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth's mask thawed slightly with a modicum of interest, quickly shot down by disbelief. "You could not defeat me."

"Oh yeah?" Cloud rocked onto the balls of his feet. This, at least, was familiar. And he could admit that he enjoyed a good challenge. A non-lethal battle with Sephiroth? Sure. Though it would be pretty stupid to think that if he beat the man that he would be leaving the building any time soon.

"You do not have any mako enhancements." Sephiroth said dismissively.

"Mako does not a warrior make." Cloud said, his eyes twinkling in excitement. "I can poke you rather well, can't I?" Cloud refused to let his face leer at that comment.

Sephiroth turned dismissively and started to walk toward the door. Before he could close it, however, Cloud had wedged himself half out the door, only the General's braced arm keeping him nominatively contained. Shocked again, Sephiroth looked down at the chest pushed up against his elbow and then back to Cloud's face.

"See?" Cloud winked, then stepped back into the room. Sephiroth frowned thoughtfully before finally allowing the door to shut.

OoOOoooOo

"What just happened?" Tseng looked like he was getting a SOLDIER sized headache. He had a pretty good idea, but all the training in the world could not prepare a Turk for the complete black box that was Sephiroth. And this stranger was giving the General a run for his money on enigmatic. Though in the stranger's case it seemed to be due to madness.

"It looked like he was flirting with you, sir." Zack shrugged.

"'He begins a life of seclusion with her/ Which seems to hold the promise of eternal bliss.'" Genesis quoted, spinning as much as the small space would allow and looking at Sephiroth with an over-exaggerated smitten look. The General's lip twitched, then he looked thought the window with a puzzled frown. "Aha! Success!" Genesis smirked. "'Loveless' can soften even the most frozen of hearts."

"Thank you for your help, gentlemen." Tseng said in dismissal. "We'll take it from here."

"You mean torture him, don't you?" Zack pouted.

"I don't know how much you are going to get out of him." Angeal said dubiously.

"We do have techniques for the insane." Tseng sighed.

"You could let him fight Seph." Genesis offered. "You could make a deal with him. When he loses he has to answer all of our questions. And we tell him he is free to go if he loses."

"Finally admitting that Sephiroth is too powerful for you, Genesis?" Angeal asked slyly.

The redhead sniffed. "As you recall we just came back from an extended holiday. With that and the inspired attitude of our prisoner, I find myself still in a vacationing mental state. But if the General does not want to battle some nobody, I would be happy to pick up the slack."

"This is against procedure." Tseng commented without much hope that that would matter to the assembled men. If there were one group that was pampered almost as much as the Science Department it was these men. Perhaps more so since the return of the two other Firsts. Especially since other SOLDIERs were trickling back in as word spread that Genesis had returned. There was an amazingly generous amount of 'retrograde vacation time' being handed out.

"Aw, let us take him for a run before you make him disappear." Zack whined, giving Tseng the puppy eyes. The Turk was, of course, immune. Mostly. But he decided to let it go for now.

"I will fight him." Sephiroth stated.

And that pretty much settled that.

OooOoOOoOo

A/N: I was really really tempted to make Cloud say "I am today" in reply to Aeris' question, but didn't. Perhaps he can come back and say that... (kudos to anyone who gets the reference).


	4. Fight

OoOOoOoOoO

Chapter 4

OoOoOOoO

Cloud was quite surprised to be outside under a blue sky once more. Even if it was computer generated. The weight of the weapon in his hand was even more puzzling. Had ShinRa gone mad when he wasn't paying attention? Giving him a weapon was insane enough... but giving him _back his own weapon? _

Although, perhaps this was more of a Turk operation and being kept on the DL? Still seemed more like a mako-dream than reality. He pinched himself a few times just to be sure. "Nope... still awake." He muttered.

"Are you prepared?" Sephiroth asked.

Cloud shrugged and lifted his sword and gave it an experimental swing. It was certainly no First Tsurugi but he had modified it to at least not break on him if he blocked Masamune. Cloud ran his hand along the blade and it began to glow faintly purple. He settled into a guard position. "Ready when you are."

The two waited, staring at each other. At the same instant they burst into movement and came together in a shower of sparks. Cloud smirked and Sephiroth's eyebrow twitched upwards. The two leapt away from each other, then raced around the simulated field. Cloud jumped high, tucking his knees up to his belly in order to dodge the deadly point of Masamune as he bore down on Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodged to the side of Cloud's blade and punched with his free hand. Cloud kicked off the other's fist and did a spinning back flip out of Sephiroth's considerable range before running off to the left.

The General gave chase and Cloud had to run sideways in order to fend off the slashes coming at him from behind. Sephiroth disappeared and instinct (and possibly habit) had Cloud blocking over his head just in time to stop the downward slash. Cloud pushed Sephiroth off of him and the other arced gracefully away through the air. But Cloud wasn't done. He leapt after the General and they crashed into each other furiously, trading blows before they had to separate in order to land.

The two paused, assessing each other.

Cloud could feel his mouth stretched into a large grin. Who had he been kidding? There was no way that he was going to be able to keep away from fighting. He just loved it too damn much. A vacation might just be camping out in this holographic training room for as long as he could- destroying fake enemies through all sorts of terrain. It was almost realistic enough to be satisfying. Now if he could spar with Sephiroth the whole time... that would be even better. No need to talk, or think about all the crap that came with the man. Just fighting. They were almost perfectly matched at the moment. Sephiroth was a bit more skilled than his body currently was, but Cloud was more experienced battling his counterpart.

With a cry somewhere between bloodlust and joy, Cloud pounced again.

OoOOoOooO

In the observation room there was a stunned silence.

"'When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end/ The goddess descends from the sky/ Wings of light and dark spread afar/ She guides us ...'" Genesis began quoting, only to be interrupted by Angeal's annoyed cuff and comment.

"You can't just start reciting the whole damn thing." Angeal shook his head. "Quoting it in context is one thing. But I draw the line."

Genesis patted his hair back in place and winced slightly. "Well what the hell am I supposed to say to that?" He waved a hand at the fight currently happening below them. "He made Sephiroth use his off hand." The redhead pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. The jealousy was palpable.

"How did the Turks bring this guy in?" Zack asked in disbelief. "Sephiroth can beat him, though, right?"

OOOoOoOo

Sephiroth wasn't totally confident that he could defeat this stranger. At the first locking of blades he had expected to overpower the other and be done. The shock when he was matched in strength had almost made him take a step back. And then somehow a sword was in his face and his desperate fist was being used as a launching board. It was the most baffling spar he had ever participated in.

He was having the time of his life.

No one could really make him constantly think like this. Not even two or more on one could provide near as good a challenge.

Sephiroth's musings earned him a nick to the face as he barely managed to avoid being slashed. His eyes widened in surprise and he leapt back. The other did not follow, content to flick the blood off his blade while Sephiroth sized him up again.

"You want to see a neat trick?" The blond asked, his shit eating grin firmly in place.

Sephiroth shifted suspiciously.

"Well, too bad if you don't." The blond sniffed. He lifted his softly glowing blade upright and placed his left hand flat against the blade.

Sephiroth stiffened, waiting for the spell. There was a brief flash and then a tickling sensation on Sephiroth's cheek. He brought his fingers up to the wound suspiciously... and there was nothing there.

The blond swept the sword in a flourish. "Tada! The Full Cure Blade! A bit of a mouthful, admittedly, and somewhat self-defeating as an effect. But great for upgrading a crappy blade so that it won't break when faced with one of the more powerful weapons."

"That is what you were doing with the materia at the mako factory?" Sephiroth clarified.

"Yup. It takes a while to get the timing down. Usually I use a restore materia, but I had the full cure on me, so..." The blond shrugged. "Plus it goes with my non-violence policy that I'm testing out for right now."

"Non-violence?" Sephiroth said dubiously.

"Well, non-killing anyway." The blond shrugged again. "You can take the swordsman out of the fight, but you can't take the fight out of the swordsman. Apparently." He sheathed his weapon, much to Sephiroth's chagrin.

"Why did you put away your weapon?" He asked curiously.

"Well, it was fun, but you weren't going to honor your end of the bargain anyway, and I'm sort of already answering your questions. So it seems rather pointless to continue." He sighed. Then suddenly perked up as a thought hit him. "Do you want to spar with some random weapons?" He asked, bouncing on his toes sort of like Zack did when he was particularly excited. "We could use bully sticks and maces and... and... whips or something?"

"Whips?" Sephiroth asked incredulously, feeling both of his eyebrows shoot upwards.

"Well... it could be fun." The man grumbled. "No sense of adventure." He muttered.

Only Sephiroth's extremely enhanced hearing picked it up. The General decided to ignore the comment as he had absolutely no idea how to respond.

Sephiroth instinctively stabbed with his sword when he sensed the other approach, but was deftly evaded. The General jumped in surprise when an arm landed on his shoulder and moved to throw the body attached to it over his hip, but the other shifted with him and avoided the throw. Sephiroth felt fear shoot through his chest... or at least he thought it was fear. It felt decidedly different and actually a bit pleasant. He looked over at the blond's arm slung over his shoulder in confusion, his face coldly blank. His hip felt rather tingly where it pressed against the other's.

"You'll be happy to note that I have decided to throw caution to the wind and go along with you guys. Just on one condition."

"What condition?" Sephiroth said flatly. His emotions were swirling confusedly and he had no idea what they were doing so he suppressed the hell out of them in order to continue to function.

The man smirked. "I'll think of one." He bumped his body against Sephiroth's companionably, though Sephiroth only moved minutely. The man then disengaged, slapped Sephiroth on his pauldron and walked off.

Sephiroth shrugged his shoulder to resettle his armor and wandered after the stranger. He didn't realize he still had his sword out until he could not fully walk through the door without the point of Masamune running into the opposite wall. He stared at his betraying blade in consternation before backing out of the hallway to sheath his weapon.


	5. Human Resources

OoOOoOOo

Chapter 5

OoooooOOoo

"So." Tseng shuffled some papers. "Your name."

"Cloud Strife." Cloud replied. He'd learned that it usually didn't pay to try to keep it a secret. Hel, his younger self might not even exist if he had somehow replaced him. The timelines were getting quite tangled.

"And were are you from?"

"Nowhere." Cloud said mysteriously. "And everywhere." Tseng looked annoyed with him. "I travel a lot."

"Where were you born?"

"Not sure." Cloud replied honestly. Usually Nibelheim. And his consciousness certainly had been. But who knew if this body was? Or if it had been formed whole from the Lifestream or some shit.

"Age?"

"Uh..." Cloud tried to think. Had he seen a mirror recently? "No idea."

Tseng was definitely irritated. "Previous occupations?"

Cloud looked at the man suspiciously. What kind of question was that? "I delivered stuff for a while. I killed monsters. Explored."

Tseng scribbled on the papers. "Any allergies?"

"No...?" Cloud said slowly.

Tseng finished writing and looked up. "And which department of ShinRa would you like to apply to work in?"

Cloud stared at him with his mouth hanging open. "Wha...?"

"What department."

"You are offering me a job?" Cloud asked incredulously. Tseng looked as irritated as Cloud was shocked. Tseng must not be the Director yet to be dealing with something like this. Unless they were putting a higher priority to Cloud than he probably should warrant.

"We certainly cannot let you go. Not with the documented conversation for which we took you in. And more especially after you proved a match for Sephiroth." Tseng tapped the papers on the desk to settle them. "Do you need a list of departments? Or would you like to be assigned to one based on your known talents."

"Hel no!" Cloud exclaimed. He could be assigned to the Turks. Or worse- SOLDIER. Or worse still- the Science Department. "Uh... the Space Program." Cloud blurted.

Tseng looked surprised.

Though more because he didn't know the other departments than for any other reason, the idea definitely had merit. Ability to help fight Meteor, or at least have more knowledge about the rockets, and to get JENOVA the hell off the Planet. "I've always been really interested in rockets." Cloud lied. "I would love to get involved with that." Although... that would mean that he was actually trying to Save the Planet again. He sighed. What the Hel. It was a longshot anyway. Why not try. And spend vacation living off of ShinRa's dime.

"I am not sure that there is enough funding in that department to fund a new position." Tseng said cautiously.

"You asked what I wanted to do." Cloud replied reasonably.

The Turk shrugged and wrote it down. "Sign here, please."

Cloud read over what Tseng handed him. It appeared to be a contract. "I don't really want to sign this." Cloud confessed. It had the same sort of language that had robbed him of his freedom in too many lives.

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well we were willing to offer you a position in SOLDIER..."

"I am not joining SOLDIER." Cloud said flatly.

"Which is why you need to sign the general application." Tseng explained calmly.

Cloud growled.

Tseng shrugged.

"Could I be... an independent contractor or something?" Cloud wheedled. "I could float between the departments.

"I'm not authorized to make those sorts of arrangements. I will have to meet with some people from Human Resources." Tseng said finally. "And I would probably leave a large portion of the negotiations between you and them."

"Well, alright." Cloud certainly wasn't fond of paperwork... but it was something different certainly. He hadn't ever played hard to get with ShinRa before. It was working out surprisingly well, considering.

OoOOOOO

Genesis paused before he turned the corner. He could hear the voices of two Seconds. They had apparently used his disappearance as an excuse for a 'vacation'. Though no one had actually followed him when he ran off, but going to Wutai and disappearing had become quite fashionable. Admittedly, it may have been rather justified, considering he, Angeal and two different Science Department heads _had_ taken some of the SOLDIERs as test subjects and turned them into clones in their more insane moments.

"I'm not saying that he should definitely come back if he is really that strongly opposed. What I am saying is that now that enough of us are coming back in and the Firsts are back and seemingly loyal... it's only a matter of time before they start ordering us to go after the missing people. And I do not want to be ordered to hunt down my friends."

"They wouldn't make us do that for a while. The whole thing is so unstable now. There are only a handful of SOLDIERs that stayed and stayed loyal. Would they really start another cascade of desertions by pulling that shit? I hear they were going to send the General after the Commanders and he was going to refuse. What if he had gone? What if he had deserted? They backed off pretty quick on making him go. And they were still trying to get the Commanders to come back, not just terminate."

"Ok, fine. But that's the Firsts. Jack is a Third. They are way more disposable than the precious Firsts. Especially with people coming back. And especially how they ramped up the recruitment and promotion in order to replace all the 'vacationers'. If anything we have an excess of Thirds. Some of them are even being fast-tracked to Seconds with the individual attention. It might not be one of us to go after him. They would probably prefer someone like that who has never given them reason to question."

"That... could be true." The second voice sounded less confident and now a bit worried. "But he's really against this war. His mother's side is Wutai and his girl's family is stuck over the border."

"This is such a fucked situation. Why couldn't the Commanders just stayed away? Then ShinRa would have had way bigger fish to fry. Now it's just an unholy mess."

Genesis crept back the way he had come and detoured around the two Seconds. But not before he had made a mental note about the two.

OoOOOOoo

Cloud was no lawyer, and he was sure there was some clause in the contract he was signing that was going to come back and bite him in the ass... but he had been at the shit end of enough loop holes that he thought he had caught the glaring ones. As far as Cloud could tell, he could be assigned to any of the departments, he was guaranteed an office and access to the rocket information, and he had the right to refuse any request (though he had only three vetoes a month, he had gotten them to let those vetoes roll over to the next month, expiring at the end of the calendar year. For this he had traded some vacation days...)

"And we have an apartment waiting for you Mr. Strife." The human resources aide filed the papers and tucked away the various input devices for his fingerprints, retinal scan, etc. "You can follow Suzanne. She has your keys."

"Thank you." Cloud stood, tucking his copy of the contract under his arm so he could shake the woman's hand.

"I hope you find everything to your liking."

"I'm sure I will."

And at first glance it did seem to be a very nice apartment. It was only one floor up from all the company rec equipment which he had full use of. Though not SOLDIER level of facilities, it was certainly nicer than doing chin ups on tree branches and lifting large rocks in between killing monsters.

Something in Cloud's pocket made a buzzing noise, startling him. He grabbed at it and pulled out his PHS. "Hn. A new assignment already?" He read the details quickly. A group of monsters to be cleaned out of Midgar. With Genesis as his observer. "What part of 'pacifist' did they not understand?" He grumbled. "Probably the whole idea." He finished with chagrin. Well, the orders told him to meet at Genesis' office, so he made his way down to the SOLDIER floor. He wasn't entirely sure where it was, but he had a room number and the hallways were well marked. It wasn't like he didn't know the tower really well for various reasons.

"Who are you?" Two SOLDIER Seconds stopped Cloud in the corridor.

Cloud was a bit shocked to see them. They were some of the ones that usually ended up being a part of AVALANCE. "I have orders to go see Commander Rhapsodos. Something about a nest of Poodlers."

"You're not a SOLDIER." The one said suspiciously.

"You are correct." Cloud replied. He waited patiently for them to get out of the way or make their point.

"Why are you going on missions?" The other one said hostilely.

"I honestly have no idea. I already told them I wouldn't kill anything." Cloud sighed. "I'm not about to break that vow for a bunch of low level crustaceans." First cracking shells, then cracking the skulls of certain silver haired General. It was a slippery slope.

"You don't kill?" The first Second looked rather interested.

"Not anymore, no. Did you know that most monsters will get so bored with you that they will literally throw items at you if you just sit there and stare at them long enough?" Cloud asked.

"Uh... no?"

"Well, they do! And you can train up almost as easily with gym equipment, though less efficiently, granted..." Cloud mused. "And I swear I got experience fighting Sephiroth yesterday. If only he would take me up on the whips..."

"Sephiroth?"

"Whips!?"

"You don't think it would be fun?" Cloud asked in surprise. Ever since the idea had occurred to him he was obsessed. It would be slightly more reach that Masamune but with the added flexibility of the weapon. Plus he, at least, had never used one before so that in itself would be a huge learning experience. Hopefully Sephiroth hadn't used them before either since then the battle would be really one-sided. "Well I have to go. See you two around."

Genesis' office ended up being in the same suite as Sephiroth's, which Cloud had been to before... or in the future... or something. Anyway, he knew where it was.

"Let's go." Genesis pushed past Cloud before he could even step fully into the anteroom to the office suite.

"Alright." Cloud followed after the redhead. No poetry? No smirk? The guy looked preoccupied and sort of annoyed. "I think I'm feeling neglected." Cloud mused.

"What?" Genesis snapped.

"Nothing, nothing. Just commenting on the lack of serenading with poetic lines. I almost had it mesmerized, too. Now I think it's slipping away." Cloud mused.

Genesis turned and actually focused on the blond. He blinked in confusion.

Cloud smirked and slipped through the door and jumped down the stairs.


	6. Chef and Bard

OooOOoOooo

Chapter 6

OoOoOoOoo

Sephiroth exerted all of his considerable self control to keep from clenching his hand into a fist. It would crumple the paperwork he was holding and that would not do. Then it would be obvious to all that he was upset.

On top was a list of the returning SOLDIERs. Beneath that, the ones still MIA and last known locations, length of time missing, pertinent personal information... and on the desk all the files of all the SOLDIERs in both categories. Sorting through the information was a nightmare. One that had previously been Lazard's problem and that of his staff. But now with all the 'vacationers' it was being left to Sephiroth to determine what their loyalties were. At least officially. But the General was in no mood to leave his SOLDIERs to the hands of the Turks if he was not thorough enough on confirming their allegiance or brutal enough with their punishment.

And then came the matter of assigning someone to track all the remaining missing down. Command would not let him go to find them as the idea of so many questionably loyal mako-enhanced fighters, including two only beatable by himself, in the Headquarters without any form of security... basically it was not an order he could countermand. But they certainly would not let any of the defectors go on a bring-back mission for fear they would disappear again (potentially with more ShinRa secrets). Which left Zack and Kunsel. Who were off haring about the countryside already trying to track these cold trails. And reporting disturbing news that not all of the trails led to voluntary leaving. Some trails definitely pointed to capture by Wutai... and some to capture by ShinRa Science Department. Not that Zack or Kunsel put that in their reports, of course, though Kunsel might have known that was what the descriptions in the report implied.

Sephiroth set the lists down and felt his face become cold and emotionless as he contemplated the situation. He could not get management to trust the returning SOLDIERs. And he did not have enough people on the search. Even if he were to be allowed to go, there would not be enough. Even if he did get enough men... could he go against ShinRa? The very idea made him uneasy.

And what to do about the war in Wutai. Without any SOLDIERs more experienced than a few novice Seconds helping the regular army, progress had ground to a halt.

Sephiroth gathered the files and strode around his desk and out the room.

"General." Lazard looked up in surprise.

Sephiroth slapped the files down on the Director's desk. "We need to negotiate a cease-fire with Wutai."

"What!?"

"SOLDIER is unable to support the Army any further with this effort. We need to focus on internal affairs. The operation is too much of a drain on our resources and has been for some time. It needs to end."

"We can't just pull out." Lazard protested.

"Yes, we can. Wutai cannot send more than raiding parties to harass ShinRa. They will not have the capacity. This we can handle."

"If we just show them a tremendous force..." He trailed off. The original plan had been to send Sephiroth. Had been about to deploy him when news of Angeal and Genesis' return had spread.

"There is no display of power that at this juncture that will not leave us weak. We must accept that there is going to be a competitor for the time being. We already hold an almost perfect monopoly. Perhaps the Wutai can serve as another target for the environmental terrorists." Sephiroth said dryly.

"More likely to serve as a base of power for the terrorists." Lazard retorted.

"Perhaps." Sephiroth shrugged. "I do not care overly much for the politics of the situation. I just know that my hands are tied with the restrictions." He added a stapled report to the files. "Here is my official statement."

Lazard looked at the stack of papers as if it were Masamune... or perhaps, that he would prefer it was a sword.

"I leave it to you to bring this to the proper attentions." Sephiroth said flatly. "I have already posted the report to the appropriate offices."

Lazard looked pale but he accepted the report and pulled it to him. "Thank you, General."

Sephiroth nodded and spun gracefully on his heel and walked out of the office. He still felt disgruntled about the situation, but at least he wasn't the one who had to deal with President Shinra or Heidegger.

OooOOooo

Genesis was irritated. Irritated that he was trailing after the chokobo-head, irritated that he was a second-class employee, irritated that Angeal seemed to think it was only right due to their breach of 'honor', irritated that his god-dammed hair kept falling in his face! He blew an errant strand away from his mouth for the umpteenth time. His damn hair was growing _so fast_ ever since that mako dip. Which lead him back to being irritated about the little blond in front of him. The man was far too happy to be sent on a monster extermination mission. And much too relaxed. Poodler were no joke enemy. Even Genesis was going to be a bit cautious dealing with the numbers that had been reported. But the blond was practically skipping!

"Lighten up, Genesis!" Cloud said cheerfully. "It's not every day you get to go down to the slums."

Genesis stared at the blond, too at a loss to even quote his favorite play.

"And here we are!" Cloud enthused, leaping into the abandoned warehouse with a battle cry.

The SOLDIER stood back, peering into a window to see if he would need to rescue the idiot. Not that he would if the other needed it. It would be his own damn fault. But the scene that greeted his eyes was not one of wanton massacre of chocobo-like humanoids. "What are you doing? Where the hell did you get that much duct tape?!" Genesis shouted hysterically.

Cloud looked up from where he was stuffing the soft end of the Poodler into its shell in confusion. "Well I can't leave them hanging out. They can still attack that way."

"'When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end...'" Genesis muttered in shock.

"And then we'll have to find a Wutai restaurant." Cloud muttered to himself. He slapped another piece of duct tape into place with an air of satisfaction and began wrestling the next Poodler into submission. He seemingly ignored the jets of fire shooting out of the four remaining Poodler and the occasional shell slamming into him.

"A _Wutai_ restaurant?" Genesis sputtered. "You do realize we are at war with them, right?"

"Oh we are?" Cloud looked up in surprise. His moment of inattention let the Poodler wrap its tentacles around him and try to choke him. Cloud groped the tentacles and pulled them out of his shirt before stuffing it into the thing's shell and taping it closed. "That's odd you're still are, considering the disparity of forces. Why don't they just send Sephiroth?"

"It's complicated." Genesis grit out.

"What, like 'we don't trust all you people that were probably going to destroy our company' complicated from ShinRa's perspective?" Cloud asked with a wry grin.

"'Their fates are scattered by war...'" Genesis quoted with a groan.

"You brought it on yourselves." Cloud said with a complete lack of sympathy. He secured the last Poodler and surveyed his handiwork in the twitching shells in front of him. "What a haul, huh? We're going to eat well tonight. On to that restaurant."

"There is no Wutai restaurant, and even if there was, you can't just go there when we are at war with them." Genesis growled in exasperation. "And what the hell are you doing with those Poodler? You were supposed to kill them."

"No." Cloud grinned broadly as he stuffed the shellfish into a sac. "I was supposed to get rid of them. Note me getting rid of them."

"Just kill them already!"

"No way. I have a vow of..." Cloud gave a funny look. "Er... whatever you call not killing things."

"Non-violence?" Genesis hazarded.

"Absolutely not. Did you see me with those things? That is no time for 'non-violence'. I just am not going to kill them." Cloud hmmed into his hand and looked up contemplatively. "At least, not on purpose."

"'He is guided by hope that the gift will bring bliss.'" Genesis quoted sarcastically. "Why did I get assigned this fool?" He muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, Genesis. You'll love Wutai food. Nice and spicy. And they have a real way with shellfish."

Genesis scowled and headed off in a random direction. There was no way he was putting up with this crap.

"Hey, wait! It's this way."

Genesis growled and tried to avoid the hand grabbing at him, but finally surrendered to the inevitable and let himself be dragged along. Though not without a pathetically moping face.

OoOoOoOo

"Well?" Cloud prompted.

Genesis scowled at him, but internally he had to admit that Poodler stir fry was extremely tasty.

Cloud happily continued slicing the monsters to the exacting standards of the ecstatic Wutai chefs. They were becoming annoying with the constant exclamations of joy and incredulity.

"So if you cut it just _so_ it does not return to the Lifestream?" Cloud asked the head chef.

"Exactly so. If they are separated in a certain way from the body, then it does not fade away as do the rest of the organics." The man said enthusiastically, his damn squinty eyes alight with excitement.

Genesis stuffed food in his mouth to refrain from commenting on fraternizing with the enemy. It helped that the flavors practically made him swoon.

"Thanks a lot, guys. I feel like I have learned a lot." Cloud said happily.

"We appreciate your efforts to get us the ingredients and to help us properly prepare it." The chef bowed low before the blond, who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, no problem! I'm getting paid for the mission by ShinRa and now by you, too, with the food!" He said happily.

Genesis sighed and stood up. "We should get going."

"'The wandering soul knows no rest.'" Cloud mourned.

Genesis looked at the blond in shock. Had he just...

"What? You aren't the only one who can quote from plays." Cloud huffed defensively. "In fact, I think I will usurp your position and start to quote from other plays. What do you think? Then we could get into a contest of who could discern the most references."

Genesis slowed and then stopped, turning to face Cloud. "You... want to quote 'Loveless'?" He asked incredulously.

"Sure. Can't let you have all the fun."

Genesis felt tears welling up in his eyes and furiously thought about something else to get the prickle to disappear. He didn't realize how emotional he could get about the damn play- even if it was the best work ever done by man. "Don't expect me to take this lying down." Genesis cautioned.

"'To seek the answer together, once again'" Cloud replied smugly.

"'There is no hate, only joy'" Genesis replied with a quirked eyebrow.

Cloud grinned at Genesis and sauntered off, leading the way back to the trains and the upper Plate.

OoOOoooooo

Zach let out a loud sigh of happiness as he flopped into the couch near his mentor. He quickly stripped the wrapping off the candy bar he'd just bought and bit into it with a loud groan of bliss.

Angeal looked at him sideways, but otherwise did not acknowledge his student. Which was sort of odd, actually. And was he wearing earphones? What the...

Zach frowned and looked around. Nothing seemed particularly amiss in the SOLDIER lounge. There were several other people there, though most of them seemed to be rushing in and back out again. Actually... maybe it just looked like a normal number of people because there were more SOLDIERs back at ShinRa? Zach had gotten rather used to it being deserted and when he left it had just been getting more populated again. The only people who were not really just passing through were Angeal, Genesis and that strange blond guy that had fought the General a bit before he got sent on all the recovery missions.

"Hmm." Zach watched the redhead and the blond, trying to figure out the conundrum. That's when he actually tuned in enough to realize what they were saying.

Genesis was flinging his arms out wide as he propped up a foot next to where the blond was sprawled on a loveseat, causing his crotch to be in the man's face. "We that are true lovers run into strange capers!"

The blond grabbed Genesis' ankle and flung him backwards. "'Tis nobler in the _mind_ to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

Not to be deterred, Genesis used the momentum to pivot around dramatically. "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them!" He protested hotly.

The blond rolled his eyes. "So wise so young, they say do never live long."

"All the world's a stage! And all the men and women merely players!" Genesis huffed, clearly affronted. Though Zach had no idea _why_. They were quoting at each other. How could that possibly be offensive? Well, offensive to Genesis, anyway- he loved plays-stuff. It had clearly already gone beyond Angeal's tolerance if the headphones were anything to go by.

"I pray thee peace, I will be flesh and blood." The blond rubbed his eyes with a hand, looking tired. He then dropped his hand and shrugged.

Zack stared at the two of them. Were they having a conversation? How could they be having a conversation? It was so quick! But they were definitely quotes- it had a sing-song quality to it. He was distracted when the General walked in- the vibe coming off of Sephiroth could freeze steam. But the two didn't seem to notice.

"Come, madame wide, sit by my side, and let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger." Genesis put a hand to his chest. Neither seemed to care that the blond was the one sitting whilst Genesis was still on his feet.

"Do they do this a lot?" Zack asked, wondering what he had missed being gone. It was so confusing...

"Lately." Sephiroth grit out.

Zack looked at his superior in surprise. He could actually _see_ the muscles of his jaw clenching. Zack's eyes bugged out slightly. He obviously had missed a LOT if the General was being so blatant with emotions. Zack wondered worriedly if the man might be going insane...

"That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man if with his tongue he cannot win a woman." Cloud replied to Genesis haughtily.

"Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly at your service!" Genesis swooned right into Cloud's lap.

The blond turned bright red and spluttered. "I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine!" The blond growled, trying to shove Genesis off of him. The red-head expertly maneuvered so that instead of being bucked off, they became even more entangled.

"I am starting to understand why everyone was fleeing the room." Zack said wonderingly.

Angeal snorted at this but did not pull out the headphones.

"You have witchcraft in your lips!" Genesis sighed, nuzzling the blond's neck.

Zack noted with some concern that the blond was not back to being white... and he looked rather furious. The Second would have been convinced that a fight was going to break out if the blond's lips weren't twitching in amusement as well as his eyebrows dancing in annoyance.

"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf." The blond warned Genesis.

Genesis stopped nuzzling to give the blond puppy eyes. "Pleas'd not the million, 'twas caviar to the general!" He licked his lips and moved in closer to the blond's.

A wind swept Zack's hair forward and he blinked in confusion. That movement very nearly had him miss seeing the General suddenly appear.

Sephiroth snatched Genesis by the back of the neck. The redhead made a sound close to 'urk' as he was lifted bodily away from the blond, who burst out laughing.

"My friend, the fates are cruel!" Genesis choked out.

"Hah!" The blond crowed in between wheezing laughs. "Loveless!"

Genesis scrabbled behind him with his arms, trying to pry the silver-haired General off of him. He only managed to look like an idiot. But since the guy was starting to look pretty blue in the face, Zack felt like he needed to say something. "Um... Seph? Maybe you can put him down now?"

Sephiroth turned and glared at Zack, making him 'eep' and slouch down in the chair.

The General did look at Genesis and seemed to note his coloring as well. Or he just decided to throw the red-head across the room. Zack was never completely sure on the exact motivations for the enigmatic First.

Genesis stood with a groan, rubbing his head. Two packets of candy dropped from the abused vending machine he had slammed into and Zack licked his lips greedily. As long as the others didn't notice...

"Dammit, Seph! You made me lose the battle!" Genesis pouted. "I was convincing him, too!"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. Perceptibly even! "Persuasion does not involve pinning Cloud down and licking him." He said flatly. That was the guy's name... Zack should have remembered that- it was so... weird.

"Shows what you know." Genesis waggled his eyebrows.

"It's alright." Cloud stood, wiping his eyes from the tears of laughter. "He's an idiot- don't mind him."

"An idiot!" Genesis scoffed. "Literary genius more like..."

Cloud tapped lightly on Sephiroth's forearm, eliciting an instinctive swat, which the blond used to duck under the moving arm and tuck himself against the General. Zack's eyebrows rose not so much at the move itself- he had seen a similar one at the end of their fight, after all, but more at how Sephiroth just... accepted it.

"Thank you for saving my virtue." Cloud simpered up at Sephiroth. "You're my hero."

Genesis made a gagging noise before bending back over and picking the candy out of the machine (damn!). Cloud laughed and twisted himself out of retaliatory range from Sephiroth, walking over to where Angeal and Zack were sitting. Sephiroth looked vaguely pleased by the whole ending, which Zack decided he was best off ignoring, just as his mentor seemed to have concluded already.

"Hey, Angeal, we're all done." Cloud said as he plucked the headphones off of the much taller man.

"About time." Angeal grumbled.

"Oh, it's just fun for the two of us." Cloud laughed.

"You are encouraging him." Angeal sighed.

"Oh, yes." Cloud's eyes were dancing with mischief. "I had no idea how fun it would be."

Angeal just grunted and stood.

"Well, Zack- good to see you back." Cloud extended a hand, which Zack took, though he wasn't sure if it was an offer of help in standing or a hand-shake. It ended up being the latter, so Zack just went along with the gesture. It was surprising how much strength was in that hand- even though the blond was holding back, it was rather like being scruffed by Sephiroth. Since the General never shook hands, he couldn't say if it was anything like the man's hand-shake or not.

"Good to be back." Zack replied honestly. As fun as it was to travel, finding- or worse, not finding, but instead getting those awful clues... Missing SOLDIERs could stay missing as far as Zack was concerned, unless ShinRa was about to start authorizing rescue missions from their own Departments. He hadn't even needed Kunsel's hints on some of the last few. He shuddered.

"Rough mission?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah." Zack rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, don't let them work you too hard. If you don't take vacations, you can really go mad." Cloud said, then laughed in a way that didn't make Zack feel all too good about the advice- it certainly hadn't worked for the blond. Or maybe Zack should _really pay attention_ since the guy was speaking from experience? He eyed the obviously unhinged guy warily.

"So what did you want to see us all for, Sephy?" Cloud asked, putting his hands behind the back of his head and rocking back on his heels.

Sephiroth's eye twitched and Cloud grinned at him.

"We need to coordinate mentoring of the new Thirds." Sephiroth sighed. "There are too many of them at the moment so we have had to non-select some promising recruits in the regular army. I want the ones that have potential moved up quickly."

"We have been doing that already." Angeal raised an eyebrow.

"But not in a coordinated fashion." Sephiroth shook his head, then turned to look at Cloud. "In the mean time, there is going to be a massive expansion of the space program."

Both Cloud's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. That's random... 'sorry kids, you can't be SOLDIERs right now, here's a rocket?'"

"Yes." Sephiroth agreed. "And you are in charge of the new section. I expect that they will be doing physical work to aid them in their mental activities as you try to revitalize the attempts to breach atmosphere."

Cloud's face stretched slowly into a broad grin. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" He cackled. "I will get that rocket into space if our group has to throw it ourselves!"

Zach had a sneaking suspicion that the blond wasn't entirely joking.

"They will not be authorized for mako injections." Angeal warned, giving a quick glance to his commander, who verified that with a nod.

"Even better." Cloud smacked his fist into the opposite palm. "I'll make them all chefs for sure... super powered, rocket-launching chefs!"

Sephiroth just sighed and left the room.

"Chefs?" Genesis quirked an eyebrow at Cloud.

"Wutai." Cloud nodded sagely. Though this seemed like a treasonous phrase to Zack, both Angeal and Genesis got a dreamy look on their faces.

"It's gonna be good to live in Midgar." Genesis sighed happily. "'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul...'"

OoOoo

A/N: All quotes that Genesis and Cloud use that are not from Loveless are from Shakespeare. Below are the quotes again, what play they are from, and then the conversation I wrote in order to select quotes. However, when I was reading through and editing, I got a slightly different conversation than depicted here. But I have left it for people who were confused. Feel free to interpret it however you want to! It is the Great Bard after all and subject to some translation. (I had entirely too much fun doing this and it might be too much... but I'm leaving it anyway!) Without further ado:

G: We that are true lovers run into strange capers – As You Like It. (I think I may love you- this is the most fun I have ever had.)

C: 'Tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. - Hamlet (Don't get used to it.)

G: Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them! - Hamlet (Why not!)

C: So wise so young, they say do never live long. - Richard III (Though it's fun, there are only so many quotes.)

G: All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players – As You Like It (Nonsense! Everything that can be said has been said in a play.)

C:I pray thee peace, I will be flesh and blood – Much Ado About Nothing (That's making an assumption I have seen them all.)

G: Come, madame wife, sit by my side, and let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger.- Taming of the Shrew (We could go see them all together.)

C: That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. - Two Gentlemen of Verona. (I already told you I'm not gay.)

G: Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, Did my heart fly at your service! - The Tempest (Some things transcend gender.)

C: I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine! - As You Like It (Get off of me you idiot!)

G: You have witchcraft in your lips. - Henry V (See! Even when I am glomping you, still in quotes!)

C: He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf.- King Lear (I will hurt you.)

G: Pleas'd not the million, 'twas caviare to the general!- Hamlet (This is an under-appreciated skill- we are too awesome together!)


	7. Recruiting

OooOooOoOooO

Chapter 7

OoOOoOOOo

"Cloud- if I might have a word." The General called after Cloud as the meeting broke up.

Cloud jumped a little at the sudden comment; he had been half way out the door with a mind to find another delicious removal mission for lunch. He should have been expecting it, though. After the discussion, he needed to know more details on these recruits and what to do with them. That was probably what Sephiroth wanted to talk about... but Sephiroth had an ungodly ability to ask pleasantries in a way that basically just led to bitterness and insane laughter.

Cloud turned around and shrugged. "Sure. About the recruits?"

"Yes. If you would follow me to my office." Sephiroth nodded his head in the direction of the executive elevator.

"Oh, alright. Can't you just e-mail me the files?" Cloud scratched the back of his head.

Sephiroth gave him a sharp look. "You need to select which ones you will accept." He started to walk and Cloud followed him, acquiescing to the silent demand to follow. Cloud wasn't dumb enough to ask the same question again... but it would be nicer to just read them on a computer. Although... he wasn't entirely sure he could find the office they had given them. He had been having too much fun on missions. Actually... they had given him some card or something to log in and a password... he couldn't really remember where he'd put the card or what the password was...

He patted himself surreptitiously and, to his surprise, found his card slipped into his front jumper pocket. Interesting... ShinRa support staff were better than Wutai ninjas.

Well, Cloud had not agreed to not to stop asking questions. He decided to try to get some more info. Since the questions were related, Cloud might be able to avoid any violence coming from the silver-haired man. "How many are there?" Cloud asked, a bit concerned at the thought of a horde of young, violent men under his command.

"There are twelve candidates." Sephiroth replied easily enough.

"Alright." Cloud started to muse- how many could he handle? He wasn't really used to working in groups larger than three, or two groups of three for a total of six. He'd never really been much of a social person or even much of a leader.

The elevator ride was a bit of an awkward silence. Cloud felt like maybe he should say something, but he found it uncomfortable for the most part to be around the General. Even in lives when they had been friends of sorts... well... they always ended up trying to kill each other. And that was about as chatty as Sephiroth seemed to get. Cloud wasn't sure what to say when Zack or someone else gregarious wasn't around as a buffer.

Sephiroth gestured Cloud into his office and the man went behind his desk to grab a stack of files. He placed them down on the small conference table in his office and gestured for Cloud to take a seat. After a brief battle between wanting to be close enough that maybe he could 'accidentally' lean on the other man, his survival instincts, and his introverted/PTSD desire to stay well away from the General; Cloud ended up sitting next to Sephiroth. To see the files better, of course.

"I have weeded out the obviously unsuitable, but they will be your team." Sephiroth said, his long fingers splaying over the files and spreading them so that the names on the tabs were visible. "So you must determine who you think you would be able to work with and train."

"Tall order." Cloud muttered. At Sephiroth's quirked eyebrow, Cloud shrugged. "I'm just determining their fate, is all."

"They will have another chance if you pass them over."

"In the regular army." Cloud scowled. He knew from personal experience just what kind of a chance that really was.

"Or in another capacity for ShinRa." The General agreed easily. "We are not a charity, Cloud. We are a business."

Cloud's lip twitched at that bald statement. "Yeah, I know." It still was odd to be doing all this, though. How the heck did he get here, again? "So... how many am I to take?"

"The company has said five, but if you need more I will see if I can... persuade them."

"Ok. Well, I'll look at the files, then." He almost reached for the folders while Sephiroth's hand was still on them, but at the last second decided he liked it attached to his body rather too well to do so. He squirmed a bit until Sephiroth stood and walked back to his desk. Cloud followed him with his eyes and unconsciously shifted slightly so the man would be in his peripheral vision as he picked up the first candidate from the stack.

"Let me know when you are complete. Familiarize yourself with all the files and reject the obvious in the next two hours- we are to meet them if you are agreeable at eleven hundred."

Well. Cloud huffed a small noise somewhere between amusement and annoyance. The man did know how to order people around. But he got to it anyway- no reason to not.

The first file Cloud immediately rejected- Hadrian had the look of a bully and the first page of notes confirmed that assessment. No apparent creativity or sense of humor, either, which was going to be necessary for what Cloud was going to have them do. Sorting through the rest of the files there were many different background. They varied in home towns from Nasir of Gongaga, where Zack was from and like Nibelheim in the middle of nowhere, to the just over half from Midgar itself. They also varied in knowledge of rockets, not that Cloud was going to hold it too much against them if all they knew was the basics that ShinRa taught on engineering geared towards mech operation. It's not like he knew much more, that was for sure. One, though, Romeo- he seemed to have something of an interest in the subject, so Cloud hoped that he would work out. Nothing in the file seemed to suggest he wouldn't.

Other than Hadrian, there was one other boy that he rejected as well- Jorge had such abysmally bad materia marks that Cloud didn't think that he would be able to train him. It wasn't just skill level- everyone could gain levels- it was his attitude as noted in the file- he actually said that he had no interest in ever using materia unless absolutely necessary. Not only would that not work for Cloud's schemes, but it was generally a poor attitude. If nothing else, everyone on a team should be able to cast Cure.

"Ready?"

Cloud started slightly, even though he had seen the other man move. He needed to calm down- it was Hel cursed paperwork, not a boss battle.

"I'm done." Cloud replied, standing up. He followed as Sephiroth lead the way down to the elevator going to the barracks. Just before the barracks floor they got off- these were the rooms where cadets had classes. Sephiroth went into one quite close to the elevator that had been cleared of all furniture except a long table on the wall opposite the door with chairs facing the entry and a chair in the middle of the room facing that set up. Cloud recognized this set up well and with some trepidation.

Sephiroth sat at the middle of the three chairs and Cloud sat down next to him, putting the files in front of him.

A hard looking man can in shortly thereafter, wearing regular army fatigues, but Cloud recognized him as someone who screened cadets from previous lives. He was trailed by a junior man, but not one of the candidates. The older man sat on Sephiroth's other side with a polite nod, then gestured to the younger, who went out to presumably get the first candidate.

The first was Kobe Sedgwick, a beefy boy with a calm, square face and large dark eyes. He saluted and sat when told to do so. The other two men then looked to Cloud.

"So, Kobe." Cloud cleared his throat. "How do you like materia?"

Kobe's eyes flicked to the General, his teacher and then back to Cloud before he licked his lips to answer. "Sir, I am not very good at them, but I have no particular feelings against using them- I think that they are very useful as a renewable resource as opposed to potions, sir."

Cloud nodded. A good answer. "And how would you say you like to operate in a team?"

Kobe blinked. "Sir?"

"You like to be the leader?"

Kobe's eyes flicked again and now he seemed to be nervous. "Sir... I... I do like teamwork, but I can work on my own, too, I don't need to have someone else there. Sir."

Cloud hmmed thoughtfully and looked again at the file. Looks like this particular young man had been noted as lacking enthusiasm for working alone. Which actually was good for Cloud. "Ok. One last question."

"Yes, sir."

"What experience do you have with cooking from fresh ingredients?"

Those dark eyes did a long, slow blink at Cloud. "Uh... none, sir- I grew up in Midgar."

Cloud nodded. "Ok, thanks."

The man at the door escorted Kobe out and brought in the next candidate; Jarod Bamford, a wiry young man with black hair and a guarded sort of posture. Then Gianni Kinne, an olive-skinned shorter boy. Both seemed fine. Matthew Croucher was no good- he took one look at Cloud's lack of glow in his eyes and dismissed him as a leader. Romeo Berens was next.

"So, Romeo. It says here you like rockets?"

Romeo's face lit up, his expression making him look like a lovechild of Rude and Reno- the boy was dark with hair so short the tight curls made him look almost bald, but the smirk indicated glee, mayhem, and a love of explosions. "Oh, yes, sir! Anything mechanical is just great. I am hoping that I can work with some of the mecha droids coming out of ShinRa! Sir."

"Then why not join the regular army or the Turks?" Cloud asked, genuinely wondering.

"Because SOLDIER is the best! I can pick a specialty where I work with the robots. And only in SOLDIER can I be fast enough to fight alongside them. Otherwise you have to be inside them or on the sidelines, sir." Romeo pumped a fist in the air and now Cloud wondered if maybe the boy was related to Barrett. "And rockets are the best, sir!"

"I see." Cloud smiled. "Thank you Romeo."

"Sure thing, sir!" Romeo grinned as he left.

"That one I definitely want." Cloud smiled. "Enthusiasm for the topic and quite the inventive mind."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow but had no comment to add.

Nasir Lauricella and Aiden Thurm seemed decent candidates, both Midgar above-plate born and thus better educated on math and science. Steven Banton couldn't stop talking about swords and killing things, so Cloud quickly crossed him off the list. The next was 'Trace' Slobin.

Trace was very thin, tall and wiry, with cropped short red-brown hair over fierce blue eyes. Trace was also pretty obviously a woman. Cloud snuck a look at the other three men in the room but none of them seemed to be batting an eye. And the file said 'male'. But Cloud knew. He had been around too many fighting women- it was something in the stance, the attitude... he wasn't sure. But he was absolutely certain the person in front of him was a woman. Ballsy of her to try to enter SOLDIER, as they did not accept women. Cloud wasn't sure where she thought that would get her.

"So. Any interest in rockets?" Cloud opened up, putting a slight emphasis on 'rocket' that would piss off any feminist listening for it. And, yup- there was the tightening around the eyes.

"Not really, sir." The voice was maybe a smidge high for a teenage boy's. But...

Eh. To Hel with it. Vacation! "Alrighty. Thank you."

"The last two boys have dropped out, sir." The escort said. "We told them this was a hand-picked alternative path by the General but they declined."

"Thank you." Cloud nodded.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at Cloud.

"You obviously aren't taking the last one, then." The sergeant stated.

"Oh, no. I like him." Cloud patted himself on the back at not slipping up on pronouns.

"You did?" The man blinked.

"Definitely." Seeing a possible-woman-in-disguise made Cloud realize that he hadn't even _seen_ much less _talked to_ a woman in... well, months, aside from at the restaurants and the occasional secretary or cleaning staff. ShinRa must be extremely sexist, which he couldn't believe he'd just noticed. Which was why he was sort of wondering if he had been hallucinating about Trace. "I like him, Kobe, Jarod, Romea, Gianni, Nasir and Aiden."

"That's seven." The sergeant frowned. "I guess two teams of four..."

"Inform them." Sephiroth said, standing up.

The relief on the man's face was clear. "They're not to be kicked out?" He asked for confirmation.

"Well, in a manner of speaking..." Cloud hedged. "I am an... alternate track. But they will get strong with me. I guarantee it."

"As you know, there are no openings for Thirds." Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow. "I suggest that they take this opportunity."

"Yes, sir, of course, sir." The sergeant saluted. "What about the rest of the class?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "The usual options."

"Yes, sir." The sergeant looked less thrilled but left the room to go inform the recruits along with his second.

Which left Cloud alone with Sephiroth.

Cloud fidgeted a bit in the sudden silence before turning on his heal and making a go for the door.

"Cloud." Sephiroth's voice was not loud, but Cloud stopped dead nonetheless. "Do you have an urgent matter to attend to?"

Well, not really.

"I see." Sephiroth replied, whether to Cloud's facial expression or because he had said it out loud he wasn't sure. "Then why are you avoiding me?"

Cloud rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm on vacation." He reminded the General.

"I fail to see the relevance." Sephiroth frowned. "You find plenty of time for Genesis."

Cloud thought in bemusement that only in his bizarre life would Sephiroth be jealous of him spending time with someone as raunchy, annoying and... well, like Genesis. The very uncomfortableness of this conversation and the fact that Cloud was both afraid for his life and unreasonably turned on at the same time _every time he was in the same room as Sephiroth _made it perfectly understandable that he avoided the man. Though Cloud's repeating life undoubtedly revolves around the silver haired general, only the fact that the red-headed First was refreshingly sane and somewhat shockingly alive meant that, well, "He's different."

"What do you find so interesting about him?" Sephiroth asked coldly.

Cloud shrugged. He almost could tell what Sephiroth was really saying, but he didn't quite have enough practice at interpreting the odd statements. Considering their history and the magnitude of experience he did have, though, it was possible that there was no possible way to interpret the man. "He's your friend, isn't he? You tell me." Cloud groused.

Sephiroth just looked away sharply.

Cloud frowned slightly, thinking of Genesis' seemingly pathological attachment to him especially since Angeal had been so focused on Zach and trying to repair that relationship. In hindsight, it was a bit odd that Genesis would be spending so much time with someone he barely knew, rather than someone Cloud had thought was a friend of his.

"He just likes me because I quote Loveless at him." Cloud smiled faintly, deciding to ignore what he couldn't fathom .

Sephiroth twisted back to look at the blond with affront in every line of his body. Cloud instinctively attempted to locate Masumune. But the General chose to cut with words... for now anyway. "You find that play to be more interesting than..." His mouth snapped shut abruptly.

Cloud's eyes widened as he mentally completed the sentence. He easily could imagine 'than me' finishing off the question, down to the intonation. Cloud was literally stumped. Surely Sephiroth was tired of being the center of attention? But something about the way he had shifted his posture after almost slipping the full statement... almost as if he was unsure.

Suddenly Cloud blinked as something in his mind shifted sideways with an almost physical _thunk.. _Even when Sephiroth was talking about being a god there was always an almost implied inferiority complex behind the words- some sort of fear, like he needed to absorb an entire world to prove he existed. Like he had needed someone to chase him and to know why- a need to discuss the whole thing. It had always been one of the more confusing parts about trying to stop Sephiroth from destroying the world, or so Cloud had always thought. But maybe... maybe Sephiroth was... no...

At the continued silence Sephiroth crossed his arms over his chest protectively, turned his face slightly to the side and looked at Cloud warily out of the corner of his eye.

But the root of the matter was- how could anyone possibly compare to Sephiroth? No one else could kill the Planet with that amount of flair (if at all). Certainly no one else had the temerity to ignore death like it was not even an inconvenience... Cloud realized that even as insane as the time looping had made him and the splintering of reality that seemed to follow had done little to break the odd orbit the two of them seemed to share. Sephiroth was basically the one constant in Cloud's existence.

When Cloud continued to stare at Sephiroth a silver eyebrow started to twitch in some bizarre form of anger. It wasn't pure annoyance-I-am-going-to-skewer-you, though it did definitely have elements of homicidal impulse.

Cloud finally shook himself and answered the question. Sort of. "How could you possibly be less interesting than..." He made an aborted, fluttery gesture. "You think..." Cloud just shook his head helplessly. Unlike previous times when Sephiroth had left Cloud tongue-tied when Cloud had been young: worried and did not want to embarrass himself in front of his idol, or set off the end of the world or get shish-ke-babbed; this time his inability to form coherent words was due to sheer disbelief.

Sephiroth turned somewhat to look at Cloud, though his eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Hel. Saying you aren't interesting is like saying Midgar isn't polluted. Not only is it obviously untrue, it's the reverse of the truth."

Sephiroth was silent. He didn't look entirely sure what to make of the declaration.

Cloud shook his head and tried again to exit the room. Saying that he did not want to deal with this conversation was an understatement.

Sephiroth gripped his arm to keep him still and Cloud felt a flash of adrenaline and a shiver of pleasure at the touch. He looked up into the cat-slit eyes trying to gauge motivation. But Sephiroth just looked a little lost and only nominally mad, so Cloud relaxed into the pull and let himself be drawn back closer.

"How is Genesis different?" Sephiroth asked, his hand tightening on Cloud's arm in some unknown emotion.

"Uh..." Cloud held up his hands in placation as his eyes involuntarily twitched to Sephiroth's sword arm. Currently clenched into a fist, but not armed.

"What are you looking at?" The General demanded.

"Just checking for a weapon. You look ready to impale me." Cloud replied.

"Answer my first question." Sephiroth growled.

"Well... he's..." Cloud shrugged helplessly. "He's just fun." And then winced at the reaction _that_ caused. He meant that there wasn't any baggage- but how to express it?

"I see." Sephiroth said flatly. "Of course that is an obvious conclusion." He turned to go, and this time it was Cloud grabbing him, though his lie flashed before his eyes, such as it were, as he did so.

"Wait..." Cloud frowned. "That's not what I meant..."

It occurred to Cloud that without Angeal around, with Zack never befriending the General, really, since he was off hunting down deserters and the two Firsts hadn't been gone all that long... and how Sephiroth seemed to be no longer on speaking terms with Genesis... the man had no one to talk to. Except in meetings with bureaucrats, being annoyed by fans and giving orders.

"You want to be... friends?" Cloud asked hesitantly.

Sephiroth's posture tightened up again.

Cloud considered. He already knew he wouldn't kill the General, he refused to kill anyone. He also refused to care about the fate of the Planet this iteration of his life. So why was he avoiding the man? Was that not, really, a kind of caring about the situation?

"I said nothing of the sort." Sephiroth said shortly.

Though he kind of had, in the stilted I-ask-about-your-hometown-then-laugh-in-mad-despai r-as-I-don't-have-one kind of way.

Decided, Cloud squared his shoulders. "Why don't you come with Genesis and me? We were going to go kill something for lunch."

Sephiroth looked pained at the very thought and at the same time completely disappointed, among other less discernible thoughts.

Sheesh, Cloud hadn't thought that Sephiroth disliked Genesis that much... But... disappointed? "You want to hang out?" that phrase seemed wrong when talking about the General, "just the two of us?" Cloud asked dubiously.

"It is obviously a horrifying idea to you." Sephiroth snapped, his arms snapping back into a crossed position against his chest as he seemed to loom even taller.

Cloud had to acknowledge that truth, but when his unconscious nod caused a flash of what looked like legitimate pain to skitter across the man's features, the damnable hero in Cloud made words spring from his lips before he could really censor them properly. "We could do something together." Ok, so that hadn't come out so bad.

"What..." Sephiroth trailed off, looking uncertain again.

Cloud tried to finish the question. Maybe 'what do you like to do with people? I am totally isolated and have no idea what people do for fun' or 'what do you mean, that it isn't horrifying or that you would actually want to' or 'what weapon would you like to defend yourself with.'

"Probably not the last one." Sephiroth said, his lip twitching slightly.

Cloud stared at him blankly. "What?! I said that out loud? Hel take me to my deserved fate!" He cursed.

The lips twitched again, this time almost resembling a smile, though it soured quickly. "You missed 'what are we supposed to say now?' I suppose the normal pleasantries." He said emotionlessly.

"Hel no." Cloud denied emphatically. He knew how well that would go. "Neither of us want to talk about that..." He waved vaguely. Not to mention that Cloud knew Sephiroth's history much better than the man in front of him did (or ever really learned, usually) and, ironically, better than he knew his own history. Between confusing himself with Zack and appearing in this world as an adult, Hel if he knew anything about his life.

Sephiroth looked surprised and relieved, but also confused.

"Uh... we could talk about..." Cloud reached for a topic. He looked at the silver-haired man sheepishly. "I have no idea, really."

Sephiroth's crossed arms lowered slightly, so that he was only holding on lightly to his elbows rather than hugging himself tightly.

"Which is why I've been avoiding you." Cloud sighed.

"I don't believe that is the entire truth." Sephiroth noted. Rather astutely, damn his intelligence.

Cloud shrugged. Not going to deny it any more than he was going to explain it. But what could they do? Anything physical was out of the question... Cloud blushed slightly. "Because we are too coordinated to have fun bowling." He protested hotly. Out loud again, oops. He really needed to kick that Lifestream habit.

Sephiroth eyed Cloud in a mix of wariness and interest at the outburst. He looked more relaxed, his stance opening up. "If you think so. I have never been 'bowling'."

"Me neither." Cloud confessed. Seeing movies? Too much like a date. Dinner, ditto. Sparring? They had done that before and Sephiroth had offered that as almost a bribe to keep Cloud from running away. If they were going to do this 'friend' thing, it needed to be something else. "I don't know. What do you like to do?"

"I thought we weren't trading pleasantries." Sephiroth snapped back.

"You don't have any hobbies?" Cloud asked incredulously.

A...nd the crossed arms are back.

"Well, one of my favorite things to do is riding chocobos. Or breeding them... or finding them in the wild... or watching them dance..." He drifted off happily.

"One would think, with your hair, the comments would have made you resent them." Sephiroth said dryly.

Cloud snapped out of his daydream and looked at Sephiroth incredulously. The other tensed. After a moment it fully sank in what Sephiroth actually had said and Cloud beamed. "Did you just tease me about my hair?" He asked in delight. "Excuse me if I don't spend hours primping my hair until it is perfect." He shot back.

Sephiroth eyed Cloud then relaxed marginally. It seemed that someone- probably Genesis- had introduced him to teasing. "Appearances must be kept when one is not a wanderer employed by ShinRa as a bribe."

"Oh, please. Like you don't have whatever you want so that they can keep you under control." Cloud scoffed.

Sephiroth face went to ice again.

"I'm sorry." Cloud apologized. "That came out wrong."

"No, you are perfectly correct. Have a good lunch with Genesis." Sephiroth said, then swept off.

"Reverse S.H.I.T." Cloud cursed to himself. Sephiroth Happy Is Terrible might be true, but pissing the guy off was worse. After struggling internally for a half second, he trotted after the other man. "Look, sorry, ok? I'm not..." He shook his head. Sephiroth still was walking away briskly, not looking at him. "Open invitation- whenever you have an idea to do something, just let me know. When... whenever you want, ok? Even if I'm in my room or something, just knock." Still nothing.

Cloud gave up and slowed to a halt, looking at the back of Sephiroth's back. Well... there was nothing that he could do about it, he supposed. He didn't think that there was really anything that the two of them could say to each other that could be... non-painful. Too much history, even if Sephiroth wasn't aware of it. Cloud sighed.

Talk about a mood kill. Now he didn't want to butcher something and bring it to a restaurant, he just wanted to brood.

OoOOOoOOOo

A/N: This chapter partially inspired by work and how many gods-be-damned interviews we were doing. So... there's that. And some Sephiroth being confused. The cadet thing was basically a sudden thought but it looks like it is developing into Plot somehow. I hope not to have too many Ocs here, especially as only one of them is a female. There are so few female characters- which took me until now to actually notice O.o


	8. Training

OoOoOooOOo

Chapter 8

A/N: I am a bad author. Please forgive me! I think I found what was blocking me, though. Maybe.

OooOOOoooo

"Um... hello?"

Cloud looked up from his position sprawled on the floor and sighed. "Hi, Aeris."

"Oh! It's Mr. Not Today." Aeris tilted her head. "Why are you lying in the floor of my church?"

"I needed to mope and it's really hard to do that at the ShinRa tower."

Aeris stiffened. "You said you weren't a SOLDIER."

"I'm not." Cloud smirked, closing his eyes. "I work in the department of space engineering. I'm trying to build a rocket so that the Calamity can leave the Planet and go off and bother someone else."

"Er..."

"It'll work." Cloud said confidently. And if it didn't... loop time! "And anyway, she wants to leave, that's why she keeps trying to destroy the Planet."

"Oh, my." Aeris said faintly.

Cloud cracked an eye open. "Did you consult the Lifestream about me?"

Aeris sighed and sank to her knees beside him. "I did." She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry."

Cloud turned his head, feeling suddenly and overwhelmingly choked up. "It's not your fault."

"So... did you figure yourself out with Zach?" Aeris asked.

Cloud frowned. "You know, that's a good question."

"Hmm. If you don't know the answer to it, then maybe you should talk to him." Aeris pointed out.

"You may be right. But I don't know that he likes me all that much." Which was an interesting development, actually.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You'll find another boyfriend." Aeris soothed.

Cloud choked, sitting up abruptly. He turned to Aeris, mouth open to protest hotly, but saw the mirth dancing in her eyes. "Oh, ha ha." Cloud scowled. "Very funny."

"I thought so." Aeris quipped.

"I should get back." Cloud sighed. He had recruits to train, mountains of paperwork to do, and... sigh. He was still hungry...

"Ok. But don't be so long next time."

Cloud blinked at her.

Aeris shrugged. "You were a bit startling last time, but I know that you know me, and I feel that I know you." She looked around the empty church, her eyes not landing on the flowers but rather the empty space up in the rafters.

Cloud realized abruptly that Sephiroth wasn't the only one who could use a friend. "Yeah, ok." He agreed.

"And next time, bring your boyfriend." Aeris' eyes glittered in amusement.

"Aerrrrrris!" Cloud drawled out her name. "I don't have a boyfriend!" Zack wouldn't come with him, for sure. The thought of Genesis in the church... or worse... Sephiroth! No, bad idea.

"That's too bad." Aeris patted him on the arm. "Everyone deserves somebody." She said with a mostly straight face.

"I'm leaving now." Cloud stood, turning on his heel and shaking his head.

"Goodby Mr. Not Today!" Aeris called after him.

As he walked away, Cloud couldn't help the way his mouth tilted up. Aeris always had a way of getting him out of his moods. Which is why he had jumped down here. Now to get back up... maybe he'd jump on the top of a train again. It was such a pain to climb the support pillars.

OoOOOoOOo

"'Of course... I'll come back for you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing you'll be there.'"

At the first sound, Aeris had turned with an 'eep'. "Who's there?"

Genesis leaned forward off of the wall he'd been leaning against and came more into the light. "Someone curious who has our friend so intrigued."

"Are you the boyfriend?" Aeris asked.

Genesis almost physically stumbled at the non sequitur. "What!?"

OoOOOOOoOo

Cloud lounged back in his chair, ridiculously pleased with himself. In front of him his recruits were leveling up. By doing paperwork. The mysterious They had said it was impossible, but They were absolutely rubbish at using materia in an optimum fashion. He had a good feeling Genesis at least would have been game to try, if he had asked, though the man had seen him use duct tape as a main weapon, so he might have just been going with the crazy.

Anyway- his minions were currently using Firaga instead of pens, burning the letters into the paper. As Cloud lounged another fire started and he lazily gestured for Kobe to put it out- not with a water spell, as might be expected, but with a tightly controlled Aeroga sucking all the oxygen away from the flames and snuffing them. This time Kobe succeeded and he grinned widely.

"Good job, Kobe." Cloud smiled. To his left Jarod stood down with the Quaga spell half-cast. That was the back-up of the back-up. Which was why they were outside. Plus the sunshine was nice.

"So, Romeo- What have we learned?" Cloud asked lazily.

The sheepish young man who had caused the whole thing rubbed the back of his neck. "That dotting 'i's does not take more than the tiniest bit of power?"

"Very good." Cloud nodded. "Now do the dance."

Romeo sighed but complied. He picked up the pen with it's modified materia slot where the ink should be and clicked the end of it with a flourish before sheathing it in the pocket of his button up collared shirt.

Romeo had almost gained a level- good. He was the last one to get to a decent level with the fire spells. Maybe soon they could actually get work done. While his minions were practicing, Cloud had been reading the reports he had been neglecting in lieu of discovering fine dining.

Cid's accusations in the future weren't far off. Cloud knew enough to understand Cid's work- both from his various lives as a bike mechanic and that one masochistic loop where he had decided to work in one of the reactors as a technician. At least twice he had found weird inconsistencies and just a bit of digging on his portable terminal showed memo traffic where various officials had deliberately and rather unsubtly changed things. Obviously they wanted to sabotage the whole project, though why wasn't as clear. Cloud had a feeling that his motto or 'when in doubt, blame Hojo' was probably pretty accurate. Something about competition for grant money or something, if not outright Jenova induced.

Regardless of the politics or insanity of the situation, Cloud had an alien he needed to shoot into the great beyond.

Cloud's stomach started to rumble so he pulled out his PHS and sent a quick text to Genesis. He smiled when he got the reply. "Alright, kids- that's enough for the moment. Let's go get some lunch."

"In the cafeteria?" Gianni asked.

"Oh, no." Cloud grinned. "We're going to get it fresh."

"Fresh?" Jarod asked dubiously.

OoOooOOO

"So you see-" Cloud paused to intercept the claws slashing at Romeo- "You just truss them up like so, and now they can't do anything." Cloud tightened the last knot on the Bagrisk, which was hissing and rolling its swirled eyes and lolling its tongue at them. He handed the Bagrisk off to Trace, who slung it onto his back with the other six-legged creature he already had.

"I got this one!" Kobe cried, rushing forward to try to grab the last Bagrisk. Cloud saw the little animal take a casting stance and he raised his arm to call Kobe back. Too late. The earth shook and all eight of his troops/ office workers froze solid. Not exactly literally- they were not cold. No, they all were petrified.

Cloud shook his head and pulled out his Soft pins. It was probably more fun that it needed to be stabbing all of the young men with the pins, reversing the paralysis.

"What was that?" Gianni asked, wobbling slightly.

"Quake." Cloud replied. "Let's try again, then." As much as it was sort of painful watching these kids with a power level in the single digits trying to take on monsters well into the teens, but Cloud was able to sit back with relative ease. He blocked all of the fatal attacks, after all, had several Phoenix under-feathers and potions. No one was in any real danger. And they could actually get good experience this way... though again, it was not the traditional method and thus the results were somewhat odd. Sometimes it resulted in no discernible increase in level, and sometimes it caused a glitchy skyrocketing of ability.

Cloud and Genesis had gained four and eight levels, respectively, the last time they had taken out a pair of Mandragora. It had been extremely confusing to see the jump in Genesis in particular, just for cutting off the tops of the things and letting them go (a crucial herb for Cloud's chocobo breeding scheme). Genesis had of course immediately attacked Sephiroth and been knocked out, which Cloud could have told him would happen- the other was still a good dozen or more levels under Sephiroth.

Finally the last Bagrisk was secured and Cloud shook off his thoughts. The nine of them set off walking, following Cloud's lead.

"What are we going to do with them?" Aiden asked, finally, confused.

"We're going to a Corel food joint. I know one that makes food traditionally." Cloud grinned. "And we're not going to have to spend a dime."

"Free food!" The boys crowed happily.

OOOOOoOo

"Hey, there, Cloud!"

Cloud turned to see Genesis racing down the hallway. Seemed he had gotten over his latest challenge of Sephiroth without any hospitalization-worthy damage. "Genesis." He quirked an eyebrow. "The wandering soul knows no rest?"

"Oh, pfft!" Genesis waved his hand. "I know I could have beaten him."

"Uh huh." Cloud rolled his eyes. "With a lot of luck, a good summons and maybe a battle buddy or five..."

"If _you_ ever agreed to team up with me." Genesis pouted.

"Then it would be me defeating him with you buzzing about the outsides." Cloud teased.

"Would not!" Genesis protested hotly.

"Well... I'm going back to my room, so..."

"But it's Friday!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So!?" Genesis just shook his head. "You're as bad as Sephiroth and Angeal. Come out with me. There's a promotion party."

"Oh? Who got promoted?" Cloud asked, not really caring all that much.

"The puppy did. Something about his doing a good job on all the reconnaissance missions. Him and that friend of his that never takes off his helmet." Genesis wheedled, sensing weakness when Cloud turned to look at him fully at mention of Zack.

"Oh..." Cloud frowned. That meant time was passing. Only a matter of time before someone went crazy and tried to destroy the Planet. It might be worth it to have a little fun. "Alright."

"Well, let's go! There's cake at the bar."

Cloud allowed himself to be dragged along, feeling a bit depressed. The cycle would never end, it seemed. And he wasn't even sure if he could get properly drunk. Not having mako this time around was promising for the prospect, but it may well end up that his metabolism was too high, regardless.

"Hey, Commander! Good of you to make it." Kunsel greeted happily. Cloud assumed he was smiling, but the SOLDIER still had his helmet on and the reflective surface obscured his face.

"'Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.'" Genesis quoted, the hand not holding onto Cloud's wrist over his heart.

Cloud blinked and looked around, Judging by the wood accents, bar stools and smell of alcohol and people pressed in too close, it seemed they had arrived at the party.

"I didn't think you would be able to bring him." Kunsel's visor swung towards Cloud.

"Oh, hey! New people!" Zack bounced over but skidded to an uncertain stop when he saw who it was, which made Cloud feel a little cold inside. When had Zack become wary of him?

"Cloud needs to get out more. I bet you he hasn't seen a woman in months." Genesis swung his gaze over to the blond for confirmation.

Cloud shrugged.

"Not like he needs it..." Zack muttered.

Genesis' eyes narrowed and he blurred forward to catch Zack in a headlock. "What was that, puppy? I thought I heard a bark."

"Get off me!" Zack whined. "You've already dragged me into your weird love-triangle."

Not that Cloud couldn't see Genesis in an awkward romantic situation... "What love triangle?" Cloud asked Kunsel.

"You, the Commander and the General." Kunsel shrugged. "Everyone knows about it."

Cloud looked at the sleek mask incredulously. "Knows about _what_ exactly?"

"The puppy is convinced." Genesis released the dark haired teen and shoved the promotee over good-naturedly. "Which is why I knew you needed to come on out. All work and no tail makes for a gloomy Cloud, don't you think?"

"Uh..." Cloud looked around the bar dubiously. There were only SOLDIERs there so far.

"Yeah, this place is kind of a sausage fest." Zack shrugged. "But we're only here for the cake. After that we have a route planned through all the good bars. No one bar can keep up with how much alcohol a SOLDIER can drink, anyway."

Cloud gave Genesis a long look. "I don't need help with women."

"My friend, the fates are cruel." Genesis patted Cloud's shoulder in consolation.

Cloud felt his eyebrow starting to twitch.

"Here." Kunsel pressed a beer into Cloud's hand.

Cloud gratefully took a long pull. The appeal of women in Midgar... not high. And he certainly didn't need any help with any of them! He knew _all of them_ from one life or another. It was... just damn depressing. He chugged the beer and snagged another one from a SOLDIER Third just before he could take his first sip. Cloud gave him a glare when the guy went to protest, then punched the fist that came flying at him, causing it to crunch. While the Third howled on the floor, several others laughed and Zack gave him another beer. Cloud downed the stolen one and then started on the third, growling. There was nothing that was really going to make this night better.

OooOoooo

"Well. It's certainly obvious that he doesn't have mako." Zack laughed as he doodled on the passed-out Cloud's face with a marker.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Kunsel asked, giggling so much that he fell over.

"Yes." Zack said seriously. He added a few pubes to the penis before sitting back to admire his handiwork. "This has been a good night."

OooOOooo

Cloud was too surprised (and hung over, if he was being honest) to make a sound as he was suddenly pulled to a halt in the corridor. He looked down at the thin fingers firmly wrapped around his bicep and slowly turned to give his attacker a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I want to spar." Sephiroth stated.

"Oh..." Cloud blinked. Would that a herd of Gighees weren't galloping through his head singing at the top of their lungs. Sure, he could fight, he could always fight... but... his head...

"You said any time I thought of something." Sephiroth pointed out somewhat petulantly.

"Yeah, you're right, of course." Cloud thought longingly of a big glass of water and something salty and greasy. "How about breakfast first?" He asked hopefully.

"It's one in the afternoon. We spar." Sephiroth started tugging Cloud along after him.

"Hey! I'd like to see you you like getting manhandled!" Cloud grumbled. Actually, yeah, he really, really would, especially since he was pretty sure Sephiroth had liked it that time.

"I would like to see you try."

Cloud looked up into Sephiroth's eyes a bit in surprise. That had almost sounded... and yeah, there is a bit of a sparkle in the green cat-slit eyes. The man was trying to provoke him. "You changed your mind about the whips?" The time-traveler asked hopefully, starting to actually keep up instead of being drug behind.

"If that is the only way to motivate you to repeat our duel, then I suppose alternative weapons might be used."

"You sound so enthusiastic." Cloud said, feeling one corner of his mouth pulling up in amusement. He pulled free and stopped in the corridor, stroking his chin in thought. "I suppose I could always start organizing the Space Department's files. That sounds pretty exciting." It did certainly need it. Being deliberately sabotaged had done Hel to the cataloging system and Cloud really did need to get a working rocket output. Though just throwing Jenova into space was an idea, he was only sixty percent sure it would work.

Sephiroth scowled. "You will duel me."

Cloud pursed his lips contemplatively. "I dunno... maybe Genesis can..." Once again Cloud is surprised. Sephiroth's eyes flashed with... literally glowing intensity, making Cloud automatically settle down into a defensive stance, a Shield already growing in his mental reserves. It was an instinct so thoroughly reinforced every life that he didn't actually need to have the materia equipped to cast it. Yay for being dead-ish all the time.

"Genesis has been taking too much of your time." Sephiroth said slowly. "And he is no match for me."

"I was teasing." Cloud replied slowly, frowning as he looked at Sephiroth. "I would love to spar you." What was a good way to ask if someone was hearing voices?

Sephiroth's eyes suddenly snapped to Cloud's tense posture and then his expression frosted over. He spun on his heal and took off in the direction of the simulator.

Cloud followed, somewhat bemused. What had set Sephiroth off? He hadn't looked that insane yet in this time loop... and he had looked about as crazed there for a split second as he tended to when resurrected into the middle of a battle. Which is to say really fucking nuts. The adrenalin was still pumping in Cloud's veins as they entered the room.

"Swords." Sephiroth said shortly, basically daring Cloud to argue.

Without speaking, Cloud loosened his sword and pulled it from the scabbard on his back. Sephiroth huffed out a breath and punched a few buttons. The room transformed into a desert. They were on top of a mesa, or actually more of a butte, Cloud supposed... he did sometimes make money as a cartographer since he traveled so much, so he really should be specific. Anyway- a large outcropping of rock about maybe 100 meters high and 80 in diameter, looking out over many similar structures extending into the far horizon under a perfect blue sky. The closest one was maybe 20 meters away- jumpable, especially if he used Sephiroth as a stepping stone half way through.

Some small part of Cloud's mind that was not tracking Masumune was relieved that the desert view did not come with the unrelenting heat that it should have. It was close, but no indoor facility would be able to punish like the actual sun.

Sephiroth turned to Cloud, raised an eyebrow and flicked his seven feet of steel back and forth, indicating that he was ready.

Cloud smirked and ran at Sephiroth, who predictably dodged. But that was fine- Cloud hadn't been intending to engage. He kept going to the edge of the butte and took a flying leap off of it, his laughing cry almost drowning out the General's shout of alarm. Cloud spun in midair with a practiced kick of his legs, turning just in time to use the momentum to bring his sword to bear on Sephiroth. Who... almost got his face sliced before he was able to bring his blade to block. The momentum was enough to let Cloud bounce off the force and land on the next large rock formation as he intended, but he looked on with mild worry as Sephiroth fell into the side of the hard wall of stone. The cloud of dust that resulted was pretty impressive and the loud crash that followed it a second later made Cloud wince a little. But not enough that he missed Sephiroth leaping out of the cloud trailing bits of rock and debris.

Cloud danced out of the way as his opponent landed rather dramatically in a crouch with the dust sparkling around him in the reflected light.

Sephiroth straightened but did not attack. Cloud looked him over for any sign of injury. Something like that shouldn't have hurt the mako-enhanced SOLDIER, but maybe Cloud was overestimating the General's ability to withstand smashing face first into solid rock. It was pretty early yet- he was probably only in the 50 to 70 range.

"Why did you leap off the cliff?" Sephiroth asked with, for him, no small degree of heat.

"I was fairly sure I would make it, and almost as sure that you would follow, so then I definitely could have." Cloud explained his earlier calculations.

Sephiroth looked... a little stumped, actually. "You were planning on pushing off of my attack mid-air?"

"Yes..?" Cloud cocked his head. What was wrong with that? They did it _all the time._

"What if I hadn't attacked?"

Cloud scoffed. "Right. Like _that _would ever happen." Sephiroth glowered. "But if it did," Cloud allowed, "and I didn't make the leap, then I would have been able to jump off the side of the butte. Or just landed down in the desert." He shrugged.

Sephiroth, however, wasn't really looking at him, he had a distant look to his eyes.

"You know what, let's postpone this. We can leave it for when we can plan it a bit better."

"No." The silver headed man shook his head, the hair falling over his shoulder.

Cloud spotted a telltale greenish tinge to the very ends of the General's hair. He retrieved his sheath and put away his sword, which caused the other to start growling. "I swear on the Planet that I will spar with you every day if you want to." Cloud promised. "But I think maybe we should pause for a bit, ok?" Besides the hangover, Cloud knew that fighting right now would not end well. Sephiroth was compromised- Cloud was almost totally certain the other man had just come from a 'treatment' of Hojo's.

"But not today." Sephiroth growled. "Today you are going to go with Genesis."

Cloud put out his hands placatingly. "I don't have to go see him, we can go together, ok?"

"I..." Sephiroth looked confused. "I thought you were..." He trailed off, frowning in confusion.

Cloud stepped slower cautiously, trying not to make sudden movements. "It's ok, Sephiroth. Whatever you want, ok? I know it's not dinner yet but we could go get some chocolate or something, ok?"

Sephiroth looked down at the floor, his expression lost. "I do not like these emotions."

"Chocolate will help." Cloud reassured him as he inched cautiously inside Masamune's reach.

"No... I know what will."

"Ok, great!" Cloud smiled. In retrospect he should have seen where this was going. As it was, however, he just had time to roll his eyes in annoyance and cough a little before the sword piercing his heart caused him to bleed out to the point he lost consciousness.


	9. Not Quite How It Usually Happens

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Chapter 9

OoooOOOOOOOO

Sephiroth's mind was drowning in green-tinged haze. Nothing felt quite real, but then again, it also felt _too much. _But also... it felt... off kilter, sideways. Hard to focus.

That is, until the razor sharp blade slid expertly between his opponent's ribs. Suddenly everything was in crisp detail and Sephiroth sucked in a horrified breath, instinctively pulling back on the blade, starting to tug it out... but wasn't that not what you are supposed to do? His indecision caused Masamune to sink several inches deeper as Cloud listed forward and began to fall.

Sephiroth felt his heart pounding so fast it was one long, painful squeeze, his head spinning and still mako-tinged, his emotions unable to settle on anything but certainly not anywhere positive.

Why had he done that?

Why. Had. He. Done. THAT?

Zack burst into the room, a Cure already glowing in his bangle. Right. Materia. Sephiroth had forgotten. But... did he have support Materia? His cat-slit eyes followed the desperate castings. Maybe it wouldn't matter. Sephiroth had stabbed Cloud through the heart. Surely that was a fatal wound?

The thought made Sephiroth's throat feel tight and painful, his stomach was not feeling well, either.

Genesis darted into the room, Angeal and several other SOLDIERs and a medic not far behind. Sephiroth could tell that they were saying things. Well, really it looked like they were shouting. But he just stared at them blankly.

Masamune still drew a terrible line precisely to Cloud's left ventricle.

Suddenly Sephiroth couldn't take it any more and he ripped his sword harshly backward. He flicked it to get rid of the blood. He shouldn't be able to touch something like that. The life blood of the only person who... who had...

Everyone else in the room froze. They were staring at him. Staring at the monster. Sephiroth's vision sharpened and the edges bled green. No. No!

He flung his weapon with all his might, watching it bury itself into the wall. Finally, finally to simulation desert flickered and died. Like Cloud was...

Sephiroth sprinted from the room.

OOOoooooooooooO

Cloud came to consciousness running through the usual checklist. Floating? No. Energy flowing through his body? No. Not Lifestream. Pain? Hel! Yes, yes, oh dear Planet... ok, that should have clued him in to the being alive thing. Pain centered where? Not the hangover from this morning (or... tomorrow? Or when...?) Pain mostly from the chest. Ok... familiar pain, when was the last time it was felt... "I feel like I got run through by Masamune..." Cloud whined.

"He's awake!" Comes a familiar voice.

Hmm... Zack is with him? But not in the Lifestream? Maybe he had died and this was a loop where he landed smack in the middle of the Wutai War or something. The thought makes him sad, though- he had really been enjoying this latest loop. It was oddly comforting to not care- especially since everything was falling so nicely into place. Now that he had talked to Jenova would she be conscious of the loops? Would Sephiroth? That would make them a lot harder to get through...

"Yo! Come comfort your boyfriend! He's in pain!" Zack bellowed.

… Boyfriend?

"Cloooooooud!"

Cloud cracked open one eye in time to see a red blur swoop down on him, landing on his belly. "Oomph!" Cloud grunted.

"Genesis, he is still wounded." Zack chuckled.

"I didn't die?" Cloud wondered out loud.

"Close thing!" Zack noted. "Good thing there are vital sign monitors in the holo-suites and emergency protocols in case someone gets seriously injured. Otherwise you definitely wouldn't have made it."

Cloud groans emphatically. "Just let me die..." It would be so much better. He almost certainly had a save point. Probably right before he woke up with the mother of all hangovers, but at least that would be better than this! It felt worse than being pinned like a flailing butterfly on the end of Masamune- the adrenaline kept that at bay. But now it just burned and throbbed and ached and... "Or kill me with an overdose of pain meds..." Since they clearly weren't working.

Genesis started squeezing his abdomen hard enough Cloud was sure he was going to be bruised later. "Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty" (1)

"Genesis I swear to the Planet if you don't let me go I will show you how beautiful death can be." Cloud growled, then coughed. "Ugh..."

Genesis sniffed and sat upright, smiling in a watery sort of fashion.

"You realize that quote doesn't even make sense in context- I'm not dead yet. Somehow." Cloud muttered.

Genesis shrugged then started to grin. And cry a little. "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him. (2)"

"Oh Hel..." Cloud threw an arm over his eyes. He hadn't died. He hadn't looped. He'd _survived_ being skewed by Sephiroth. Well, it had happened before, but usually not without Hojo interfering. Speaking of... "Where is Sephiroth?" Cloud lowered his arm, looking around the room.

"He... he's the one that tried to kill you." Zack started hesitantly.

"He's not coming anywhere near you, we promise!" Genesis growled.

Cloud regarded the two of them in surprise. Didn't they know? Well, maybe not. Zack had said that it was later in the timelines when he usually discovered about the mako making Sephiroth homicidal. "It's ok, he was under the influence of some treatment. He wasn't in his right mind."

"Cloud... you didn't see him. When we came in he'd stabbed you twice, then ripped out Masamune and tried to skewer Zack by using it like a lance."

"He _threw_ Masamune?" Cloud asked incredulously. He had _never_ seen Sephiroth willingly give up his weapon.

"Yeah... it was pretty weird. Thank the gods he's not very good at it, though!" Zack chirped happily. "I almost had to get a new hairdo."

"First off, Sephiroth wouldn't throw Masamune to attack." Cloud can say this confidently because even when completely over the moon mad off his rocker, the man had not only kept a death grip on his sword, but had been able to summon it. Disarm Sephiroth? That was called killing him. "And second off, even if he would throw it as a bizarre ranged assault, he would _definitely have killed you._" Cloud continued. "He needs to be found before he does something..." Cloud frowned, he felt kind of lightheaded. "Something..." He wheezed then started to cough.

"Cloud! Your heart is barely put back together, you need to relax." Zack started to flutter around the blond as a nurse rushed in to frown at him and fiddle with the IV lines.

"Worship with the fulness of heart the weak memory of heaven.(3)" Genesis tried to push Cloud back onto the bed. Somewhat successfully, Cloud noted in annoyance.

"To the last, I will grapple with thee... For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee! (4)" Cloud growled. "I want my sword."

Genesis grinned at him and opened his mouth.

"Sir! Stop antagonizing him." Zack interrupted before his commander could speak. "Cloud, let's not be hasty..."

"Zack. Sword." Cloud narrowed his eyes at him. "Unless you want me stressed out?"

"It's right here, Cloud." Zack handed it to him nervously.

"Thank you, Zack." Cloud smiled. Then stabbed himself in the chest. Yes, that really hurt worse actually. By the Planet!

"Cloud!" Genesis screeched, turning so pale he almost seemed translucent.

Cloud ignored him and activated the blade as he pulled it out. He sighed with relief and dropped the weapon beside him.

"What in the seven hells did you just do!" Genesis looked actually a bit green. Cloud eyed him warily- was the man going to pass out? In the distance Zack bellowing for a nurse could be heard.

"The sword heals. I made a bigger wound than the one Sephiroth gave me and healed as I came out." Cloud shrugged. Hel if he was going to sit in bed _forever_ waiting for it to heal naturally. "If you didn't want me to do something so drastic you should have done a Full Cure or let me die and done a Phoenix Down or something."

"It..." Genesis started to sway slightly.

"Oh, honestly." Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Genesis I..." Angeal stopped in the doorway, taking in the chaos of doctors and nurses ineffectively fluttering about not sure what to do or even if they were needed, Zack looking like someone had hit him in the back of the head harder than usual and Genesis like he'd seen a ghost. "What have you been doing in here?"

"Hi Angeal. Good to see you." Cloud replied as he started to tug at his lines. The doctors swatted him away but, after looking at the monitors, shrugged at each other and started to pull them out. "Ooo... that feels really weird.

"As it should young man this is a central line." One of the doctors chided him as she held down pressure on the small hole in his arm. "You SOLDIERs..." She shook her head.

Cloud grinned at her sheepishly.

"So... you are better?" Angeal hazarded.

"Yup." Cloud nodded. The other two were still slowly recovering from their shock. "Where's Sephiroth?"

"I lost him." Angeal admitted. "He is too fast for me."

Cloud frowned. "That's not good. I'll go track him down."

"You _just_ healed yourself from your last fatal encounter with him." Zack protested.

"Sephiroth is not stable, Cloud, what if he..." Angeal started.

"If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you. He who fights...(5)" Genesis started.

"Do NOT finish that." Cloud growled. "His is NOT... I can't believe you would even..." He was too angry to even finish that. Sephiroth would become a monster, but not yet, not today. That was unacceptable.

Genesis just blinked at him as his mouth snapped shut, not a drop of blood left in his veins from the look of it. The First was surely running on pure mako at this point as anyone else would have passed out by now. The shock of Cloud stabbing himself on top of the vehement defense left him momentarily mute.

Cloud sprung from the bed and deftly dodged nurses, doctors and SOLDIER Firsts who were trying to keep him in the room, check his vitals, or shove him back in bed. He quickly hacked the PHS he'd swiped from a nurse. Sephiroth hopefully hadn't had enough time to have gotten too messed up stewing on the issue yet. And hopefully the mako had a chance to get out of his system a bit. Though Zack had never said how long the homicidal tendencies lasted... damn.

He pulled out his borrowed PHS and flipped to the e-mail. "Hah! I thought so." The nurse had seemed like the type to be part of the Silver Elite. Checking recent messages he has a location.

OooooooooooOOOOOoOO

"Great." Angeal sighed. "Now I've lost both of them." Well, unlike his minion and Genesis, Angeal had faith that the two would sort things out. Or Cloud would get killed. Possibly Sephiroth, but Cloud had not shown himself to be that kind of aggressive. And Angeal was therefore not worried. It wasn't like he could do anything about it. He had a realistic idea of his level compared with the two, unlike a certain redhead. "Someone get Genesis some smelling salts." Angeal waved his hand vaguely in the direction of his fellow commander, then spun on his heel and left the hospital. With Sephiroth having a freak out, that meant there was going to be a lot of paperwork. So he might as well get started before he was called to pick up the pieces later.

OOooooooooOOoOoOOo

Cloud levered himself up and over the last ledge and collapsed dramatically on the flat surface. "How did you get up here, Hel..." He muttered, looking up at Sephiroth with a grin.

The other man, however, was frozen with an almost horrified look on his face. It would be, that is, if it wasn't mostly just blank and stiff.

"Hey, Sephiroth, what's wrong?" Cloud asked. Then winced because that was kind of a stupid question. But he hadn't expected the man to be this affected. "You know, though it is great for your fans with telephoto lenses, standing up on tall spires and being broody isn't good for your health." That joke also fell flat.

Cloud sighed and came closer to Sephiroth, stopping uncertainly when the other man started to look a bit ill and panicky.

Cloud tilted his head to the side and instead moved sideways and into a small alcove made by a power converter, the base of the very tip top of the antenna they were perched on and some cabling. "Why don't you step away from the ledge and we can have a chat?" Cloud patted the metal beside him, making it clank and clang. He smiled ruefully. Not the most inviting of surfaces.

But despite this, Sephiroth slowly inched closer and sat down beside Cloud.

"There! Now all of Midgard can't see us." Cloud scratched his chin thoughtfully. "At least, their telescopes." He grinned at Sephiroth and tried not to twitch when a gloved hand started towards his freshly healed chest... and the hospital gown with the large hole in it. Hmm. He probably should have changed. Now all that fans have pics of his naked ass hanging out as he climbed. "At least I have a nice ass..." Cloud mused.

"You are really uninterpretable sometimes." Sephiroth rasped.

Cloud blinked at him, wondering why it sounded like he'd been yelling. Or... crying?

Sephiroth held Cloud's gaze and finished extending his arm, until his gloved palm was pressed against Cloud's skin. His fingertips twitched. Finally Sephiroth looked away and down at his own hand contemplatively.

"What are you doing?" Cloud asked, curious.

Sephiroth removed his hand, tugged off his glove with his teeth and placed it back.

The warm skin on skin made Cloud suck in a breath and start to feel hot and tingly despite the wind and chill up this high. "Sephiroth?" Cloud asked, his voice coming out a bit breathless.

"I'm feeling your heartbeat." Sephiroth murmured in return.

"Oh." Cloud gasped, sucking in a breath as the long fingers moved slightly to better get inside the large tear, under his gown and on his skin. He started to feel a bit lightheaded. "Ok."

Sephiroth moved suddenly, his hand tearing the hole wider and moving his hand along Cloud's ribs to his side. He lowered his head and rested his ear against Cloud's chest, closing his eyes.

"Ok." Cloud repeated, licking his lips. He could feel his heart thundering and he wasn't sure what emotion exactly he was feeling.

"You are afraid." Sephiroth said sadly, unknowingly trying to answer Cloud's confusion.

"I don't think so." Cloud replied. At least, not _only,_ though there were certain kinds of terror mixed in.

"Your heart is beating twice as fast as is normal in the average human. As someone much more fit, yours should be lower even than that." Sephiroth commented. And damn if his breath wasn't puffing against the skin. Noticeably, despite the wind, since he was just that close to Cloud. Cloud had felt the man's lips move against his upper abdomen and it was making his abs twitch.

"You don't usually touch me." Not like this... Cloud managed.

"You're alive." Sephiroth explained, as if that was adequate. And maybe it was, if he regretted his moment of insanity.

Cloud wondered if Sephiroth had had moments of clarity in his other lives. If he had regretted it then, too. If it had driven him more insane or off the deep end quicker. The thought chilled his libido enough that he could think of something besides all the points where Sephiroth's skin was in contact with his. Saddened, he wrapped one arm around Sephiroth's shoulders and used the other one to stroke the bangs out of Sephiroth's face.

Sephiroth sucked in a sharp breath and tensed, before _leaning_ into Cloud and shuddering out a sigh.

"Hey, it's ok." Cloud carded his hands through the long silver hair speculatively. It was not as soft as it looked but was surprisingly sleek. He encountered no knots at all. Not really fair... "This is just a really super awkward hug." Cloud said, mostly to himself.

"Is it?" Sephiroth asked. And damn... if he kept doing that Cloud was going to get (more) _ideas_.

"Erm. Yes. Yes, this is a very awkward hug." For a lot of reasons.

"I thought that hugs were supposed to be more like this?" Sephiroth asked, as he snaked his other arm around Cloud's back and _under his Odin-be-damned_ gown flap.

Cloud tried not to think about Sephiroth's hand just inches from his bare ass. He thought of all the fans and undoubtedly Hojo watching and sucked in a long breath. That helped. Sort of.

"Is this not correct?"

"Sure. Yes." Cloud babbled. "Very good. Not entirely usual technique but good adaptation considering how we're sitting."

Sephiroth hmmed. "I have always been good at adapting theory."

Cloud nodded. That was certainly true. Wait. "Theory?" Surely someone has hugged him before. But, well, who? "You... I mean, this isn't your first... er... hug?"

"I can see why Zack always is saying I should try it." Sephiroth allowed.

Something in Cloud's heart just... clenched and he shifted so he could gather Sephiroth closer. It was unbearable, the thought. He felt a bit ridiculous clinging to his arch nemesis on the tallest antenna in Midgar about to cry like a baby but... it also felt right. All... well, ok not _all_ but most of his horniness fell away. Now was not the time for it. "I'm ok, Sephiroth."

"I deeply regret..."

Cloud interrupted him. "Hey, there's no need to apologize. I forgive you."

"I killed you." Sephiroth told his heart, sounding broken and shifting somehow closer.

Cloud swallowed and tried to remember how to breathe. "I know. And I forgive you." He had to, to retain even a shred of sanity in this crazy situation. How the man was now... even how he was without getting to know him... he wasn't the monster that tried to destroy the world. Not yet. Soon, probably, but judging someone based on actions they may take based on how things had played out before... Cloud had started off doing that and it had almost broken him. Friends didn't know you and could become enemies and betray you. Enemies similarly had no grudge and could try to be your ally. It... wasn't worth it to not forgive. It hurt too much.

Sephiroth swallowed. "I can't say I won't try again in the future."

"Sephiroth, you could try to destroy the Planet and I will forgive you." Cloud said wryly. "Try to stop you, yes, but I will also forgive."

Sephiroth made a skeptical noise.

"Soooo... ready to get off the ledge yet?" Cloud asked, starting to feel awkward again with the much taller man practically curled up in his lap.

"No."

"Ok." Cloud sighed and rested his chin on Sephiroth's head. He started to nod off- it had been a pretty tiring day. He had, after all, almost died.

"You are tired. You should probably get to your bed." Sephiroth woke Cloud up from his half-sleep, causing him to start.

"Oh, yeah, probably." Cloud yawned. He noted that if anything he was being gripped harder. "Erm. You need to let go for that."

"I'm finding that I am reluctant to do so." Sephiroth mused.

Cloud huffed a laugh. "How about you let me go for now. We can do this again, I mean, if you want."

Sephiroth let up enough to look Cloud in the eyes. His hands rucked up under the hospital gown and Cloud tried not to shiver. "Yes?"

"Absolutely." Cloud replied. And tried not to feel like he was taking advantage. Sephiroth clearly didn't mean it that way, but... Cloud could keep himself under control and just enjoy this. Right.

OoOoOoOOOooOOOOOOOO

A/N: This may be the only story I ever write with all these end note references. XD

(1) Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

(2) Euripides

(3) Bertolt Breccht "Great hymn of thanksgiving"

(4) Melville's Moby Dick (or Khan quoting it in Star Trek II haha)

(5) Nietzche. I put the quote out of order cause it fit better that way. Full quote "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."


	10. Paparazzi

OOOOOOOOoooooooooooO

Chapter 10

OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

"Sir, please stay calm." The doctor tried to get Genesis to keep the oxygen mask over his face, but she wasn't having much luck.

"He's in a very complicated love triangle." Zack said with a false-solemn face. "You know how relationships can make people so emotional!" Since Angeal hadn't been worried, Zack wasn't worried. Watching Genesis basically mute and suffering from some kind of panic attack, though? This was prime blackmail material. And he'd already snapped off a couple of shots and sent them to Kunsel for archiving. Muahaha!

Genesis glared at him and opened his mouth to undoubtedly spout an insult in the form of an incomprehensible quote from a presumably important reference. However, Zack was spared by the buzzing of an incoming PHS text message. With one more glare for good measure Genesis checked his PHS. And growled.

"Your boyfriends breaking up with you?" Zack asked cheerfully, doing a couple victory squats.

Genesis got a sickly sweet look to his face which made Zack instantly wary.

Turning to the nearest nurse he asked the man, "Could you be a dear and fetch me a pair of scrubs? Size medium I think will be best." The man seemed about to refuse but Genesis turned on the charm that had temporarily abandoned him due to the shock. With a quick glance at the doctor, who nodded her acceptance, the nurse went off to fetch the clothing.

"Sir, though SOLDIERs are, of course, able to regulate their medical status to a certain point, I would like to keep you for a bit longer. You were a worrying shade of green and we want to make sure your mako levels aren't destabilizing. We already have the first test and your baseline, but will need one more to be sure." The doctor said to Genesis in a stern but resigned voice. "It really would be for the best."

"Oh, is that so, Doctor?" Genesis capitulated immediately. "Of course, whatever you want. Since it is so medically important."

Now Zack was even more suspicious and starting to think he should have run away with Angeal when he had the chance. The doctor similarly had a skeptical glare on her face. The potential for being sucked into paperwork with his mentor was why he hadn't... but the sly looks Genesis sent Zack as he replied to the doctor made a shiver run up Zack's spine.

The nurse brought the scrubs and Genesis immediately pressed them against Zack's chest and glared at him until Zack gulped and accepted them.

"Now, my dear subordinate, this quest I send you on seems entirely appropriate for one such as yourself."

Zack groaned. "Who needs the pants and where are they?" He was _tired_ of the 'puppy- fetch!' joke. No one even had to full out say it anymore, it was just understood. It was a travesty! He was a SOLDIER, dammit...

"Top of the north communication antenna." Genesis idly inspected his nails.

"WHAT!?"

"Don't bark, so, puppy!" Genesis pouted.

"That... that's the tallest point in Midgar!" Zack had a sudden, terrifying realization. "You're sending me to where two crazy assholes are potentially trying to kill each other?!"

Genesis frowned. "Respect your superiors, SOLDIER."

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir..." Zack replied automatically. But... _really_? Even his mentor and Genesis couldn't scratch one of the two men and he was supposed to go up there alone?

"Relax, Lieutenant. I doubt anyone is trying to kill anyone. Why would Sephiroth request pants?" Genesis asked rhetorically and shrugged. "I would go myself, but you heard the doctor's orders." He grinned maliciously.

Zack pouted, but he knew this was it. This was the end. Killed delivering a pair of pants to the top of a gods-be-damned antenna. "Yes, sir."

OoOOoOOOooOOOooOOOO

Zack complained the entire way up the metal scaffolding. Not just because the thing was a bitch and a half to get up with rusted sections that tried to fall away when you grabbed them, sections slick with bird droppings, and handholds you had to make enhanced leaps to get to; but because he wanted to be _very sure _that anyone up at the top of this thing knew he was coming. Whether that be his General, the blond menace, both or neither, he didn't want to get skewered this far from medical attention.

"Doctor's orders my ass! That jerk didn't want to climb this giant monstrosity..." Zack grumbled as he finally made it to the last platform. He pulled himself up with a groan and looked around. And promptly lost all his cool points at the _squueee_ noise that came out of his mouth. Before he had even consciously processed the scene his PHS was out, several pictures snapped, and sent on to his partner-in-blackmail.

"Are you capable of even a modicum of silence?"Sephiroth's eyes glittered at Zack menacingly. Well, as menacingly as they could. Considering the tall man was cradling a passed-out Cloud in his lap, the two of them wrapped around each other like tired puppies, it wasn't really up to usual Sephiroth standards.

"Oh. My. Gods! You two are so damn cute!" Zack couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight. He needed Kunsel to print out a picture so he could have it on display. Right next to the pic of Angeal holding Genesis up about to throw him like a spear that one time his mentor had forgotten his headphones and the redhead had spouted one-too-many lines. "So..." Zack crouched down and smiled. "Hugs, huh? What do you say to me?"

Sephiroth sighed. "You were correct, Zachary- hugs are pleasant."

Zack crowed and did a little happy dance. "The climb was worth it. I am going to rub it in Genesis' face that he missed something so adorable. Hah!"

"Zack?" A sleepy voice called. Zack looked down just in time to catch a sleepy yawn. The click of the PHS camera going off again roused Cloud to full awareness. "What the Hel, Zack?" Cloud grumbled. "What? Why are we still up here?" Cloud asked, then shivered slightly and burrowed closer to Sephiroth.

"I should seriously just be taking a video of this." Zack mused.

"Zachary." Sephiroth eyed his SOLDIER firmly.

"Oh, right." Zack pulled out the scrubs and tossed them to Cloud. "Here you go. Pants that will only show a discrete amount of ass-crack, instead of the full Monty."

Cloud let out a wide, genuine smile, much to Zack's confusion. The SOLDIER hadn't thought that Cloud had such positive feelings towards him. But that was almost how you would smile at a... friend. Even, perhaps, a brother.

"Thanks, Zack." Cloud proceeded to wiggle into the bottoms without bothering to stand up. Which was probably due to the fact it was the only cover from flashing all of Midgar... but the expression on Sephiroth's face was simply _divine_. Zack didn't know how to even begin characterizing it, so with another snap, he saved it for posterity.

Cloud looked at him curiously. "I will be needing copies of all those pictures." He said, tying the straps to his pants.

"Ehehe... copies of what pictures?" Zack started to sweat a bit. He typed out a quick message to Kunsel to lay low and avoid chocobos.

"Hmm." Cloud stood finally off of Sephiroth's lap, which resulted in another extremely interesting if repressed expression from Sephiroth (Zack had seen more facial twitches from the man in the past ten minutes than in their entire relationship thus far- he had been almost about to give up that Sephiroth even _had _any).

With an innocent expression, Zack snapped another photo with Cloud looking directly at him. "I'm not taking pictures." He lied blatantly. "I'm archiving."

Cloud's eyes practically twinkled in humor. "Then, as a historian myself, I would love to help you... archive." He winked.

"Aw, man! Don't pull me into the triangle! That would make it a square or something and that's just not ok." Zack whined.

Cloud tilted his head back and laughed.

Sephiroth stood, looking annoyed now- something that was not uncommon when around Zack so he didn't feel the need to take a picture. That was, until Sephiroth started to untie the top of the hospital gown and Cloud's face kind of froze-fell and it looked like he completely stopped breathing.

"This will be more comfortable if you put the scrub top on then wear it with the open part in front." Sephiroth suggested.

Cloud made a squeaking sort of noise that sounded vaguely like 'ok'.

Zack raised his PHS again but now that Sephiroth was standing his gaze had significantly more power. Zack's arm lowered in unconscious submission. Right after the practiced click-swoop of a picture taken and sent away. Zack put on his innocent puppy face in instinctive self preservation as something sharp, focused and full of _intent_ entered Sephiroth's glare.

Cloud patted Sephiroth absently as he finished settling the top and swinging the gown around. Sephiroth's glare fell away from the sweating Zack and onto Cloud. Zack wasn't sure why, exactly. Fully dressed Cloud looked like an escaped mental patient, but it was probably a step up from being half naked. Probably.

Cloud peered over the edge of the service platform. "Hmm. I'm kind of tired, still, even with that nap. I'm not sure I can stick the landing." Cloud mused in that kind of voice that probably meant he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"I have told you before not to jump from heights." Sephiroth scolded. No, really- he had inflection and everything! Sort of like 'Zachary, what have I told you about signing your paperwork with stick figures?' but with more 'oomph'.

"Eh..." Cloud was surveying his options. Because apparently they weren't just going to climb back down. "How about that roof over there? If you give me a boost I think I can get to it... then you jump off of that brace there, and I'll meet you over by that rebar." Zack followed Cloud's pointing hand and felt his mouth drop open. That must be... hundreds of meters! Down! Not to mention how far it was out.

Sephiroth, fortunately, seemed equally as unimpressed with the plan as Zack was. "Or we could just hop down the platforms."

"What platforms?" Cloud protested.

Sephiroth nodded to the other side of the antenna. Zack peeked over the edge with Cloud and felt a little bit of vertigo. This side was the edge of the plate. It just went down, down, down... until the desert below.

"Argh! You got to be kidding me!" Cloud looked annoyed. "How do you get to them from the Plate, though?"

Them? Zack wondered.

But there was a silver blur in front of him and suddenly he could see his CO floating off into empty space. Zack felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and dumped in a bucket of cold water. Suddenly he could empathize with Genesis.

But Sephiroth didn't continue falling and instead changed trajectory several times in quick succession in seemingly open air. Looking closer now Zack could see the little protrusions of the support struts. If those were 'platforms' he was a Nibel wolf!

Sephiroth looked up with a raised eyebrow then changed course more radically and disappeared around the corner. Zack darted to the other edge of the antenna and saw the man calmly perched on a post maybe a hand's breadth wide. Once Cloud was also looking Sephiroth continued his graceful jumps until he was on top of one a train station- an easy jump down even for Zack.

"That man is insane." Zack said in awe.

"Hmm- well, he does have more floating power than the average enhanced." Cloud agreed. Maybe. Was that odd ball statement agreeing or a counter argument?

Zack turned around to ask but nearly had another heart attack as he saw the tail ends of Cloud's hospital gown/cape disappearing over the edge. He rushed to the side but Cloud had no more trouble hopping down than Sephiroth had. The two of them met up on the train station roof and looked up at Zack.

Zack just stared at them until he felt his PHS buzz. He pulled it out and read 'r u coming?' He just looked at the two of them incredulously, shaking his head. They might be able to make that but he didn't want to end up a Zack pancake, thank you. If there had been some stuff to slow his fall- many impacts and a therefore slower descent- maybe. Maybe he could survive it. But freefalling? The height looked like enough time to hit terminal velocity and that was a harder hit than a Midgar zolom. It would at the very least knock him out and injure him severely. And then in the desert, who would find him?

With another shiver at the crazed acrobatics of the two, Zack turned back to the side he'd come up and started the slower, safer way down. Which wasn't to say he didn't jump to another building a little over half way- he did of course. But he'd made that height of jump many times before.

OoooooooOOOOOooOOOO

Angeal looked up from his paperwork as his sweaty and confused looking subordinate walked into his office on autopilot and sat in the chair across from his desk. Raising an eyebrow Angeal slid some reports on monster stats over to Zack. His second eyebrow joined his first when Zack actually started to tally numbers, average various stats, and begin writing up geographic-based strength sheets. Not that it wasn't something that Zack had done many, many times and could, apparently do without really being mentally present. But usually his hyperactive protegee couldn't sit still long enough to do so without whining about it being boring. Something big must be on his mind. Or something had happened with the Sephiroth/Cloud situation. Hopefully no one had died. He thought _someone_ would have let him know if that happened.

The outburst, when it came, startled Angeal so much he snapped his pen in half.

"I mean, Cloud's _obviously_ smitten, what the hell!?" Zack threw up his hands, growled, then grabbed his head and hunched over in the chair.

Angeal grabbed tissues and started to frantically blot up ink before it completely ruined the work of the past hour. Thankfully it didn't look too bad, and Shinra was used to getting reports from SOLDIERs with ink splattered all over them. Not usually from their Firsts, but everyone could forget their strength. Or get startled. "Zack, what is your point?"

"I was kidding about the love triangle... but they are so cute!" Zack looked at his mentor pleadingly. "How can I do anything but love the guy when he's so adorable like that?"

Angeal blinked. "I thought you said that it was Genesis, Cloud and Sephiroth?" He was confused. "Now you're in love with them to?"

"What?" Zack blinked. "No! Nonononono!" Zack shook his head to emphasize the denial. "No, like, love him like a teddy bear. I want to just... smoosh the two of them." Zack starting making frankly disturbing pinching motions with his hands.

"Zack... I need some context."

"Oh, right. Well!" Zack, of all things, pulled out his PHS. He tapped away at it, leaving Angeal bemused. Was he going to call someone? Zack thrust the PHS into Angeal's hands. "There, there... how can you not want to just squish them?"

Angeal looked down at the screen. On it was a picture of Cloud curled up on Sephiroth's lap, asleep, while the General gave his patented death glare at the camera. "Oh." Angeal wasn't sure what to say about this... or how it had survived being deleted. Sephiroth didn't seem to care about pictures of himself, up to and including that one of him naked that the Turks had had to 'take care of'. Sephiroth had just stared at them blankly when they went in to tell him about the leak. It wasn't until Genesis had pointed out that it was causing havoc in the ranks that the man had seemed to get some kind of grasp on why it was an issue.

Angeal clicked to see more pictures and saw Cloud waking up, then Sephiroth undressing him... "Zack!" Angeal barked. "What have I said about Sephiroth and his lack of understanding normal social cues? You can't just take a picture of something like this!"

"What?" Zack pouted. "He was wearing pants."

Angeal started to rub his temples with the hand not holding the phone.

"But look at Cloud's _face_." Zack insisted. "He's twitterpated."

"I have no idea what that means, Zack, but I was aware that he was attracted to Sephiroth." Zack made a betrayed noise, but Angeal raised his hand for silence. "As long as he's not taking advantage, I don't care. You know how Sephiroth is socially. But Cloud's been very... restrained."

Zack snorted.

Angeal closed the PHS and handed it back to Zack.

"What do you mean, you knew, though?" Zack mumbled, reaching for his PHS.

Angeal held it out of his reach and raised smiled. "Zack, the two of them are probably the most awkward set of semi-asexual confused and awkward lovebirds to grace the face of the Planet. They are almost always like that. Further... I think it was the first thing Cloud ever said to me- asking if I was attracted to Sephiroth. I think he used the term 'Sephiroth-o-sexual'."

Zack's mouth fell open. "No!"

"Now stop gossiping like a teenager, delete these photos, and leave your commanding officer's private life alone." Angeal commanded. "Until and unless you think that he is being manipulated, pressured, or otherwise hurt by their... weird almost relationship. Thing."

"Erm." Zack snatched back his PHS. "Cloud's like... only attracted to Sephiroth? Is that what that means?"

"I don't know, Zack. He's insane."

Zack nodded with a shrug. Clearly true.

"Now help me with paperwork or get out."

"Yes, sir!" Zack jumped from his chair and was out the door before Angeal could retract the second option.

Or realize that Zack hadn't promised to destroy those photos.

"Dammit."

OOOooOOOoOoOOOoOOOO

"Hey, there, Kunsel."

Kunsel felt a deep feeling of dread shoot down his spine. He turned around slowly. Cloud was leaning towards him with a very... intense expression on his face. Not helped by the scrubs that were too long in the leg, too tight on the shoulders, barely held up by the drawstring and covered by a hospital gown worn like a cape. "Erm..."

The guy was going to gut him. Well, it had been a good life. All the data back ups would go to his various approved persons to blackmail for money for his mother, keeping Shinra out of his family's business, or destroyed (as appropriate). It was really too bad because they were such cute pictures. Zack wanting it framed with cartoon bunnies as a matte maybe was a bit far, but the man really didn't have any taste at all so it wasn't a shock...

"Hey, you there?" Cloud tapped on his helmet, bringing Kunsel out of his life flashing before his eyes.

"Erm. Yes. Hello, sir."

"Great. I'm going to need copies of all those photos." Cloud rubbed his hands together. "In triplicate. High rez." He squinted his eyes in thought. "And I'm going to need you to go through everything the Silver Elite is putting out. I'm ok with my ass being caught... just so long as they don't have a flash of the goods, if you know what I mean. And we need to protect Sephiroth, obviously." He peered into Kunsel's helmet and the SOLDIER could swear the man could see through the tinted glass. "If I so much as hear a rumor that these pictures have got out to those sickos, I will find you, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Kunsel replied quickly, holding his hands up placatingly.

"Good." Cloud nodded. "Last thing we need is Hojo with evidence Sephiroth has a soul, no?" And now he was cheerful again. "You know where to find me. I want those pictures. But guard them like a Bahamut summons materia!" Cloud clapped him on the back. He must have been excited or thought that Kunsel was stronger than he was, though, as the SOLDIER staggered under the hit. "Oops. And maybe better than the materia- I know how that got stored. Ok, yeah, secure-ish, but leaving the numbers lying around was just sloppy."

Kunsel nodded in agreement. Though what he was agreeing to he had no idea. The man probably needed to be in the mental hospital it looked like he had escaped from. Or needed coaching on how to keep thoughts as thoughts and not run-on rambles.

"Good man! Find me later for some food. I know all the good places."

And with that non-sequitur, he was gone.

Kunsel slumped with relief into the nearest chair. He was going to _kill_ Zack for dragging him into this!


End file.
